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Introducing ReFolkUs, a new podcast by Folk Music Ontario, where we talk to artists and music industry professionals about building sustainable careers as creative workers, with a focus on folk.
[00:00:27] Rosalyn: Hello and welcome to ReFolkUs. [00:00:30] Today our guest is Jennifer Roe. Jennifer is the Executive Director of Folk Alliance International, affectionately known as FAI, which is an international arts non profit and national arts service organization based in Kansas City, Missouri in the USA. Jennifer's journey began in Washington, DC., where she worked on Capitol Hill for the Majority Leader of the Senate before transitioning to serve on a presidential campaign. Jennifer joined the FAI team in 2013, igniting a passion for folk music. With over a decade of [00:01:00] private sector experience, she assumed a pivotal role in leading FAI staff and contractors and overseeing the day to day operations, including a key role in orchestrating the International Conference.
[00:01:09] Rosalyn: Jennifer channels her political background to advocate for arts and culture at both federal and state levels. She is a strong steward of folk music culture and the connections between FAI members.
[00:01:20] Rosalyn: Hi, Jennifer. Thanks for joining us.
[00:01:27] Jennifer: Rosalyn, it's really good to be here [00:01:30] today.
[00:01:30] Rosalyn: So for, any folks listening that somehow haven't heard of Folk Alliance International, can you give us a little synopsis of what it is and what you do?
[00:01:40] Jennifer: Absolutely. So Folk Alliance is a nonprofit organization for the folk music industry. And our mission is to present, preserve, and promote folk music. And we've been around since 1989, started in Malibu as an opportunity for primarily presenters to come together and learn about what each other [00:02:00] is doing.
[00:02:00] Jennifer: It is now a Membership organization that has blossomed into over 3000 members. One of our key things that we do each year is an annual conference. conference this past year had about 2200 people in attendance. It was in Kansas City, but we are moving to Canada next year in 2025 in Montreal, and it's a great opportunity for the folk music industry to come together.
[00:02:24] Jennifer: It's a showcasing conference where artists get to showcase their talent on stage in official [00:02:30] showcases and private showcases, hopefully with the opportunity to be seen by presenters and other industries that will help them advance in their career.
[00:02:38] Rosalyn: And, you have been with Folk Alliance since 2013, which is amazing but it hasn't always been in the executive director role. Can you talk a little bit about your evolution with the organization?
[00:02:51] Jennifer: Absolutely. So I became aware of Folk Alliance in 2012 when the executive director at the time, Lewis Myers, was looking for office space in [00:03:00] Kansas City. They were moving from Memphis to Kansas City. And I ended up working as a contractor. I owned a small business at the time doing administrative support with a business partner.
[00:03:10] Jennifer: And Folk Alliance was one that became one of our clients. So when they, we helped them, Physically moved from Memphis to Kansas city. We trained with the team in Memphis and then helped set up shop here in Kansas City. It was a very, very light, small team. It was only the executive director at the time.
[00:03:26] Jennifer: And then he hired one person, Jared. When moving to Kansas [00:03:30] City. So it's a small team, and I was really excited to have full clients as a client. I've always been interested in in conferences and seeing how they worked out. So I was excited to come in and experience that. But I never actually saw Louis plan the conference.
[00:03:46] Jennifer: He just, I think, did it in his sleep, or he did it four o'clock in the morning in his, apartment. So, we knew that when Lewis moved the office to Kansas City that he was going to be stepping down soon. So Aengus Finnan, who is [00:04:00] a Canadian, was hired as the next executive director in 2014.
[00:04:03] Jennifer: And at that point he asked me if I'd be willing to step in full time. And so I decided that I was interested. So I started working full time in September of 2014, and my role has evolved from operations manager to operations director to deputy director. I was the interim executive director for a couple of times, and now I am the executive director.
[00:04:24] Rosalyn: Wow, congratulations, we're, we're very lucky to have you in this role. And I wanted to also [00:04:30] shout out, Jared, who is still with the team as well. You mentioned that he was one of the first staff members and he's still
[00:04:36] Jennifer: Yes, yeah. Jared started doing membership and he is now our conference director responsible for all the operations behind setting up the annual conference, which is, which is a really big role.
[00:04:48] Rosalyn: Amazing. And how big is the team now?
[00:04:50] Jennifer: We have eight full time staff members and are in the process of looking for two additional staff members to come on board. We're a little bit understaffed right now, [00:05:00] so we will be at full capacity, we'll have 10. Staff members. Most of us are in Kansas City, but we do have a person in Memphis who used to work with us during the Memphis years.
[00:05:09] Jennifer: She came back in December, which is awesome. Cindy Cogbill. and then we'll see where the two new hires are from. Maybe from Kansas city or someplace else.
[00:05:18] Rosalyn: Well, that's really exciting and like an incredible story of growth for the, for the organization.
[00:05:24] Jennifer: Yeah. It's actually really exciting looking back when Angus came on board, we had an [00:05:30] operating budget around seven or 800, 000 and over the seven years that he was here, I worked hand in hand with him and we doubled that budget to 1. 6, 1. 7 million. And I like to say that that was largely due.
[00:05:45] Jennifer: To Lewis Meyers, really putting a strong foundation and putting money in the bank that allowed us to take the risks that we had to take in order to grow, which included hiring Alex Mallet as our [00:06:00] development and salesperson. And so it's, it's really fun right now. Our director levels, which includes Alex, Cindy, Jared and myself combined, we have about 40 years of experience working for Folk Alliance.
[00:06:14] Rosalyn: Wow,
[00:06:15] Jennifer: We have a very deep bench right now, which is really exciting.
[00:06:18] Rosalyn: That's wonderful. Has it always been like the same kind of model of conference? you know, have you seen any changes, kind of within the, in programming within the last, Eleven? Twelve years?
[00:06:29] Jennifer: [00:06:30] 11. Yeah. How many conferences have I been to? My first one was in 2024. yeah, I mean, there has been some changes, you know, it's every person, every leader has their own thing that they want to do or want to see. Louis did an excellent job of expanding the conference. He did that. In part by expanding the opportunities for artists in when I think his last year we had about 220 or 240 official showcase artists, his last year and [00:07:00] probably Angus's first year and we started to take that down.
[00:07:02] Jennifer: We still have a lot. We have 160 official showcase artists and that's a lot. But we have, Try to, really focus on the daytime programming and focus on the value of learning as a person that's coming in to our conference, we want to make sure that they understand the business and understand those relationships.
[00:07:22] Jennifer: A lot of our conference is networking and meeting people. And oftentimes you do that in the programming, daytime [00:07:30] programming space and the, and hearing what folks are saying and, and catching them after they're on a panel or talking to people. So we see that, but the basic model is the same. We have official showcases and we have private showcases.
[00:07:43] Jennifer: Our private showcases are really unique and special to our event. They are held in. Guest bedrooms primarily where the host may take out the bed while the hotel takes out the bed, but they have a space for a small listening room and [00:08:00] primarily it's acoustic. This past year, we had about 80 rooms over three floors where our attendees can go from room to room and listen to music.
[00:08:10] Jennifer: We had about 2,500 performances over the four nights. Yeah, it's a lot. but it's, you know, one room may only have one or two people in the audience. Another room may have 2030 people packed into space. But it's an excellent opportunity to just learn and discover new music by going [00:08:30] from room to room and, listening to artists and an artist collaborating with each other as well.
[00:08:35] Jennifer: It's, it's really, I think, artists Often come to our conference for that opportunity to refresh, renew, to be inspired by what they hear. And yeah, we hear a lot of great stories experiences.
[00:08:48] Rosalyn: Yeah, there are so many kind of unique moments. I feel like anybody who's been to the conference will be able to, immediately access, stuff that they felt like they would have never seen. You know, collaborations between [00:09:00] folks or, gems or like, I can think of, two handfuls of times where I've gotten to sit in front of artists that I admire or that I, look up to so much and I'm, five feet away from them in a hotel room, you know, some pretty special moments get created there.
[00:09:13] Jennifer: I also love a lot of our private showcase hosts choose to do in the rounds and where they have. You know, two to three artists that are playing a song. And oftentimes when you're in that, they tend to play off each other and artists often will collaborate in the moment. [00:09:30] And it's been fun to witness some of those collaborations at the moment.
[00:09:34] Jennifer: but our private showcases primarily are hosted. By our attendees, and it's not something Folk Alliance manages the process, but our attendees are the ones that curate the rooms and set up the rooms, and it just makes it more special.
[00:09:48] Rosalyn: And then you, you were talking about daytime programming. I feel like Folk Alliance has always been, a real leader in the types of programming especially [00:10:00] focused on like equity, I know, one of our dear mutual friends, Treasa was, was part of the programming team for a while and did some, some really amazing things.
[00:10:09] Rosalyn: you've introduced summits, like different types of summits into the programming. You talk a little bit about Maybe like the evolution of, of some of that, kind of professional development programming. And, maybe you can summarize this year or give us a, I don't know if you have a sneak peek yet for next year, but we'll take it if you do.
[00:10:25] Jennifer: I'm not sure if I have a sneak peek yet for next year as far as like the summits, but we are in the [00:10:30] process of, getting together our programming committee to help support the process of figuring out what our programming will look like next year. And we will reach out to, Folks and allow them to submit their panel suggestions for consideration as well.
[00:10:45] Jennifer: but yeah, Tressa was an amazing team collaborator and, feel very fortunate that she was able to curate the programming for several years. and her last year was right when I, Was the interim and she stuck with it [00:11:00] to support me. So I really appreciate that she was willing to stick around to, to be a support to me, when I was in that position and, Angus created summits and the summits were really around an opportunity to have a.
[00:11:13] Jennifer: Focused presentation, or, you know, sometimes a day long presentation on a specific area. sometimes it's based on identity, and many times it's based on a professional, Area. For example, we've had summits on ethnomusicology, and it's an opportunity for folks [00:11:30] that work in that field to be in a space where people are actually doing music live.
[00:11:35] Jennifer: So they're an ethnic musicologist. They're often in the books or in the archives, looking at stuff or listening. But this is an opportunity to be in a space where they can meet all day, have very targeted conversations and then experience the conference. in the evening in, in late night hours. but as far as identity, Folk Alliance was able to provide space for the International Indigenous Music Summit.
[00:11:58] Jennifer: And we, provided [00:12:00] space for their inaugural event, which was in Montreal in 2019. And that was, that was really special for Folk Alliance. And I think it added more value to Folk Alliance. Then it did for the I. M. S. We had a large number of indigenous people attend are 2019 and 2020 conference when they held it again in our New Orleans conference.
[00:12:23] Jennifer: And that's been really exciting to see the evolution of I. M. M. S. They now, I think, are in their second year of [00:12:30] hosting A standalone event, and we've been able to, to do things with them over the years as well at our conference. And then most recently we have the black American music summit that was kicked off at our 2023 event, and they had their second year here.
[00:12:45] Jennifer: That was done the first year in partnership with Lily Lewis. what we want to do in those. Spaces is really step back and allow the organizer to take over and determine what the programming is because we're not experts in ethnic musicology, we're [00:13:00] not indigenous artists or Not everyone on our staff are a black american music person But we do want to hold an open space to allow them to do programming which ultimately Really benefits us as an organization to to have those spaces So I'm not sure what we're doing next year.
[00:13:16] Jennifer: I hope that we continue to provide space for the International Indigenous Music Summit as well as the Black American Music Summit. I hope they come back. We have been talking about an educator summit. But I have a feeling that might be waiting until [00:13:30] 2026 when we're back in the us. We did a legal summit this past year, and I know we plan on doing that again.
[00:13:35] Jennifer: When we're in Montreal, we had great success. A lot of our lawyers who were able to get continuing legal credits in attending. Hope to, to do it again in 2025.
[00:13:45] Rosalyn: And maybe for folks who aren't familiar with kind of structure of how you move around. Can you explain a bit, you're talking about going to Montreal, being in New Orleans, being in Kansas City. Can you explain a little bit about, about the cycle that, that Folk Alliance goes on?
[00:13:59] Jennifer: [00:14:00] Absolutely. We don't technically have a set cycle. We do at one point, and I'm not sure if this is a board policy or in minutes or something I've not found, but we've made a commitment, at least internally, to be in Canada about once every six years. So we are in Canada in 2013, 2019, and again, we'll be there in 2025.
[00:14:22] Jennifer: And then back in the U. S. during those five years. We had a multiple year contract in Memphis before going to Toronto [00:14:30] in 2013, and then we had a five year contract in Kansas City. Our office is based in Kansas City. It's a lot easier to do an event when it's a mile down the street as opposed to across the border or several states away.
[00:14:43] Jennifer: So our goal moving forward I mean, I would like to see us remain in Kansas City on some level and then also reach out to other cities where you're actually in the process of looking for 2026 location and future years. so we're doing site selection and [00:15:00] visits to various cities in the US as we search for new host cities.
[00:15:03] Jennifer: Part of that process is figuring out, is there financial support from the city or state to help? Incentivize us to be there. When we went to New Orleans in 2020, we had excellent support from the state of Louisiana. So those are conversations that we're having with our Kansas city people. Like how can us being in Kansas city is a great economic impact.
[00:15:23] Jennifer: We have an estimated 5 million economic impact. We host an event in Kansas city and [00:15:30] similar to other cities. So how does the city or the state realize that impact and hopefully are able to financially support us and support the folks in this community to attend.
[00:15:39] Jennifer: It's, I had a meeting yesterday with a person from Kansas city wanting the conference to be back here in Kansas city and realizing like the value of having all these international folks in your city that we wouldn't normally have. And that's the same thing that we're going to see in Montreal is a lot of.
[00:15:55] Jennifer: Folks coming in, we had over 40 countries present at our conference this [00:16:00] past year and imagine, you know, in many ways, it's a lot easier for people to get to Montreal than it is for them to, to get into the middle of Kansas City, the middle of the U. S. But, you know, there, there are things that we consider from the cost of the hotel to transportation to The interest of being in that city and the overall cost to the organization.
[00:16:21] Jennifer: Cause it's very expensive to move our conference to different cities.
[00:16:24] Rosalyn: Yeah, I'm just, learning now and in similarly in, in new [00:16:30] to this role at Folk Music Ontario that it's certainly once you put on an event in a hotel, The next year is it's just a lot easier, a lot easier when you know the, the space and the people and the community there.
[00:16:42] Jennifer: yes, absolutely. Knowing a space allows you to make corrections on errors that or something that happened the previous year, which is one reason why I'm very excited to be back in Montreal, the exact same location that we held our event in 2019, the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth, because we know the space [00:17:00] and there are several, I mean, there three or four of us on staff that help produce that 2019 conference and have enough institutional knowledge to know how to navigate it.
[00:17:09] Jennifer: And then reaching out to the community is also very important. we'll see what
[00:17:12] Jennifer: happens.
[00:17:13] [00:17:30] tell us a little bit [00:18:00] about what can we expect in terms of, like, the hotel are there things that are going to be different about the conference because it's in Montreal?
[00:18:08] Jennifer: Well, the last time we went to Montreal, Montreal had the largest snow storm that they had seen in decades, I think. So that was like, welcome to Montreal. But the most fabulous thing about it is they knew how to deal with it. And, people were still able to show up despite there being so much snow on the ground.
[00:18:25] Jennifer: Our event is in February, so that's something to be mindful of. Montreal is a [00:18:30] beautiful city. The day after the conference, I walked for miles with my Child who I don't know how old she was like 15 at the time and we toured the city. It's a beautiful city We're staying at the same hotel again the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth, and it is the hotel where?
[00:18:45] Jennifer: Yoko Ono and John Lennon had their bed in Back in 1969, I believe it was a 50 year mark in 2019. So I think my math is correct. I could be wrong. But yeah, so they have this beautiful suite [00:19:00] that we had access to last time. Where, you know, they've, they've remodeled the suite as a, as a space, which was really fun.
[00:19:07] Jennifer: It is, it is, If you're familiar with Montreal, they have underground walkways. So it's pretty easy to navigate that. I think one of the biggest challenges right now, and I'm sure that you see this as a conference. The host of conference in a hotel is the expense of hotels these days. Our rate is significantly higher than it was in 2019.
[00:19:27] Jennifer: So we have a smaller contract and are [00:19:30] utilizing other area hotels nearby that have lower rates. Thankfully everything's within walking distance and pretty easy to navigate. But I think that's one of our biggest challenges is really trying to navigate a world after the pandemic where everything is more accessible.
[00:19:44] Jennifer: It's super expensive in trying to make sure that it's still an affordable place for, for folks to be,
[00:19:50] Jennifer: So we have an official showcase application process, which is now open and will be open through the beginning of July. And then our will start reviewing the [00:20:00] applications and will inform artists typically in early September. And so that process is the same as last year. We'll be asking for this summer.
[00:20:09] Jennifer: Our registration opens July 1st. Thank you. So, please register early to get the early bird pricing. We always keep the registration rates lowest for artists. So they get the lowest rate for several months. And, yeah, I mean, it will be very similar to what we've had in Kansas City. but it's, it's a really fun space, which is the [00:20:30] beautiful thing about the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth.
[00:20:31] Jennifer: It was renovated. I think in 2018, and it's just an amazing, fun, vibrant space. So if you've never been to the Queen Elizabeth, this is an ideal opportunity to experience it.
[00:20:42] Rosalyn: So we'll link to the showcase applications in the show notes. So if you're, you're listening and want to check it out you can check the link and a little while ago you put out a webinar, did a webinar It had a good title. It was like how to make a great
[00:20:59] Jennifer: [00:21:00] Showcase
[00:21:00] Jennifer: application.
[00:21:01] Rosalyn: Yeah. So, and I know that we have that, I'm sure it's available on your site. We have it linked in our resources as well on the Folk Music Ontario site. It's a really awesome resource. If you're thinking in any way, shape or form about applying, definitely check that out,
[00:21:13] Rosalyn: First
[00:21:14] Jennifer: and that's also available that that video link is available on the showcase application page.
[00:21:19] Rosalyn: Oh, perfect. Of course it is.
[00:21:21] Jennifer: we tried to.
[00:21:23] Rosalyn: the more you know about that is it was really handy because every conference is different in what they're looking for and as a person who's [00:21:30] seen many showcase applications now in my time yeah, sometimes they can really vary
[00:21:34] Rosalyn: vastly and, and the more you know when you're applying is great.
[00:21:37] Jennifer: Yeah. And I, you know, when we're looking for official showcase artists, we're really looking for artists that are export ready or tour ready, someone that can take advantage of an opportunity if it's presented to them in the application, we do ask for a marketing plan we like artists to realize that they are entrepreneurs.
[00:21:55] Jennifer: They own their own business, which is them as an artist on stage and [00:22:00] performing. And that is really important to consider what you do as a business and what are, what are your plans for the future? And this is a great, I mean, sometimes it's a great exercise for artists to go through the process of like, Hey, what is my marketing plan?
[00:22:14] Jennifer: What am I doing? And what do I want to gain out of this experience? of showcasing what's what's my intent and purpose of going to a showcasing conference I think it's it's really important artists in particular to consider [00:22:30] what their goals are of coming to a conference and applying for a showcase It's a lot of work, but it's also a pretty easy thing in the grand scope of things that you do.
[00:22:41] Jennifer: I also like to remind artists that if you don't have an official showcase, that doesn't mean that there isn't value to the conference. We have again, 160 showcase artists, but there are another 340 artists slash bands that are attending to perform in private showcases, or just to, to [00:23:00] participate in the conference.
[00:23:01] Jennifer: So there are opportunities outside of official showcases where there is still value.
[00:23:06] Rosalyn: And even with like just the act of applying, as you mentioned, it can be helpful just to get your ducks in a row anyways, right? But also these are juried. applications. So I do like to mention to folks that at the very least you're getting your music in front of some, you know, influential tastemakers who are being forced to listen to every single thing that you're doing and review all of your assets and, and really getting to know [00:23:30] you. So it's, you know, we don't share the jury feedback.
[00:23:32] Rosalyn: But there are a lot of times where I will see jurors say stuff like, Oh, this has been such a great discovery. It was so great to discover this artist or to find out more about these folks that I hadn't known about. So there is that as like a little, a little extra incentive, I think, to put in that showcase application.
[00:23:48] Jennifer: Absolutely. Yeah. We have the same process here. We don't provide feedback, but our artists are reviewed by multiple people, we have presenters that do it, DJs [00:24:00] other people in the music business that are, reviewing and taking time to listen to you, which is pretty powerful when you think about it that way,
[00:24:07] Rosalyn: yeah, I wanted to also add a comment when you're talking about, you know, if you don't get a showcase, should you still? Go and you know, I'll, throw my two cents and that it's, even if you don't get an official showcase, even if not able to, to figure out a private showcase, just going and being at an event like Folk Alliance where you're like truly surrounded by a, there's all the inspiration, which we kind of talked [00:24:30] about earlier.
[00:24:30] Rosalyn: You're going to be inspired by all these folks that are working in the same field and, pushing boundaries and, and doing really interesting and. amazing things and people, you know, at the top of their game that you might not even know about. But also there's something about just seeing and being seen and, and being a part of, you know, that kind of networking experience, you know, being out there, showing that you're taking your business seriously enough to invest in, coming to a professional event like Vocal Alliance.
[00:24:55] Jennifer: absolutely. And, you know, I think it's really important for, first of all, [00:25:00] Folk Alliance and probably a lot of showcasing conferences can be overwhelming to navigate. So many times we suggest people come to do some reconnaissance work the first year, just to show up and see what it is and what they foresee they can get out of in the future.
[00:25:14] Jennifer: We do offer first timer scholarships. So that's really important. People should apply for those. basically, if someone is thoughtful in how they respond then they will likely get a hundred percent scholarship for their, for the conference registration. someone [00:25:30] just says that they're, they want to show up to listen to music, that's, that's not going to really get them very far, but we at minimum give them a 50 percent discount on their conference registration.
[00:25:40] Jennifer: But it's a great way just to, to test. The space. you know, I like to think of artists. Really to be mindful of why they're coming and if it makes sense for them from a business plan to invest in a conference, so they should make sure that they're coming with a purpose. [00:26:00] What that purpose is. I don't know.
[00:26:01] Jennifer: It could be to receive inspiration from other artists and that's a fair, fair enough purpose or to reset from a creative standpoint, or it could be to. Look for presenters to put them on their stage or to find a manager or an agent or a record label, whatever your purpose is, I just suggest that you be thoughtful about that.
[00:26:18] Jennifer: because it's, it is an investment. And if you're in Canada next year and it's an easy place for you to get to take advantage of that, where Presumably it's less expensive to to get to Montreal than [00:26:30] it is to to get to Kansas City or a different U. S. City. So take advantage of it being in in your city.
[00:26:36] Jennifer: And then also, you know, take advantage of other showcasing conferences to understand how how it works, the easiest way to get a private showcase is knowing who the hosts are, and you know who those hosts are by attending other events like Folk Music Ontario or one of the regional events in, in the U.
[00:26:53] Jennifer: S. that are under Folk Alliance. So there are opportunities to attend conferences that are smaller than [00:27:00] Folk Alliance that are great networking opportunities. These are. Show up at these online events as well. Folk Alliance is hosting Folk Plus, which is a online event in early June. It's free. You can pay if you want to, but it's, it can be free if you want to.
[00:27:15] Jennifer: I think that will be June 5th and 6th. So right around the corner, and it's an opportunity to network with people and to, to listen to panels, daytime programming and be in, online spaces. So show up because that's part of work. That's part of your business is to [00:27:30] network with each other and learn and meet people.
[00:27:33] Rosalyn: I think that's one of the cool that I got out of, like, the pandemic times when everything was online, and then we had this moment of, like, are we Going back to in person, are we still doing everything online? How are we going to navigate this? And one of the neat things that I, found was really helpful was stuff like Folk Plus or, you know, and, and at Folk Music Ontario, we do some similar not a conference, but we do some networking things online before the conference as well [00:28:00] just as an opportunity to get to know some faces, right, especially if it's your first time or if you feel fairly new to the community.
[00:28:07] Rosalyn: It's just a really nice way to go and, get to know some of the folks that you'll be seeing probably in person at the conference. A lot of those folks show up to the online events. Folk Plus is a fantastic way to do that. last year I know there was networking elements to it and we'll be kind of the same kind of interactive.
[00:28:23] Rosalyn: event this year?
[00:28:24] Jennifer: Exactly. There, will be some networking events where it's like breakout zoom rooms, randomly broken out, and then [00:28:30] also. Panels will, you'll have the opportunity to like comment in the chat, but there will be a combination of both of those. And I believe we're doing a couple of peer sessions or affinity groups.
[00:28:38] Jennifer: I can't remember the exact schedule, but it's posted on our website. If you want to find out more information.
[00:28:44] Rosalyn: And then also recently you introduced. Chorus, which I believe is also kind of like an online tool to like network and stay in touch with folks throughout the year.
[00:28:53] Rosalyn: Correct?
[00:28:54] Jennifer: absolutely. So course is, is the platform where we will be hosting full plus this year. And [00:29:00] it's basically an online community similar to Facebook. Where folks that are part of our Folk Alliance community can interact with each other. Chorus is only as good as the number of people that choose to interact in it.
[00:29:12] Jennifer: We had a lot of activity moving into the conference time. So it was really fun to see people utilize that space. Space and, ask questions like, Hey, I'm looking for a hotel room. Does anyone on the share or I need to borrow whatever, or, you know, just meet up with me in this [00:29:30] space. So it was great to see that where people would introduce themselves and hopefully find ways to meet each other at the conference.
[00:29:36] Jennifer: And we hope that that will be a similar experience for folk plus as people start to use this space more frequently, Our ideal will become more powerful, and trying to use that space throughout the year Is a way that we will create it to be more valuable.
[00:29:51] Rosalyn: So in season three of this podcast, we are digging in a bit. Into how folks think of [00:30:00] folk. So I'm wondering if you can give us maybe we'll, maybe we'll even make this a double question because maybe you can tell us a bit about how Folk Alliance, how does Folk Alliance define folk?
[00:30:11] Rosalyn: And then add if you have any kind of feelings yourself about what folk is.
[00:30:16] Jennifer: folk music. That's actually a pretty hot topic. How do you define folk and people have so many different opinions and how you define folk. I mean, at the root of folk music is, you know, the music of your [00:30:30] people. So just going to that route, it can mean so many things last. Year hip hop celebrated 50 years in music and that is the music of the people And so it's just has so many different sounds which I which I think is One of the things I find the most beautiful Is knowing that everyone can find a space in folk music because everyone has their own music to share And from their own culture and oftentimes here at folk alliance.
[00:30:57] Jennifer: We think of A folk music more [00:31:00] than a sound or a genre, and it's more about a way of life and the way we interact with each other. And it's, you know, it's a, it's a movement folk music in the sixties was about protest and how to fight. So we, we have these different times in the history of music of how.
[00:31:19] Jennifer: How folk music can be identified and how you can, can view it. Personally, I didn't really know. And I, and I think this is part of our problem is people don't [00:31:30] understand what folk is and, and people have a a misperception that folk music is a person with a banjo and a guitar, maybe with a cat in the background, but it's, it's, you know, I love all those things, but it's more than that.
[00:31:42] Jennifer: And, and I didn't, I think that's part of our challenges. It's explaining to people what folk music is. And it's, it's music that you do like to listen to. I remember a couple of years ago, I was at a conference and I ran into this guy and I was telling him about our organization. He's like, Oh, I don't, I don't book folk music on my stage.
[00:31:59] Jennifer: And within the [00:32:00] same breath, he was, Looking to listen to Ocon and like, Oh, Ocon who just happened to perform at a conference last year. And then I also saw them at Folk Music, Ontario, that's Folk. So the music that you are booking on your stage is Folk. And so just being able to articulate that to people and to change the narrative about what Folk music is, one of our challenges.
[00:32:25] Rosalyn: Thank you. So much for that, Jen. That's a, really beautiful [00:32:30] interpretation.
[00:32:30] Rosalyn: And tell us a little bit about how we can find out more about Folk Alliance online, on social media. Where's the best place to go to check you out and interact with you?
[00:32:41] Jennifer: Well, back in the days when the internet was brand new, we had someone smart enough to grab the domain name, polk. org. So that's F O L K dot O R G. So you can go to our website, polk. org and click on all the social media icons at the bottom of the website. If you want to [00:33:00] connect with us over Instagram, Facebook, X formerly known as Twitter and LinkedIn, YouTube.
[00:33:06] Jennifer: We have a great YouTube channel that has a lot of past webinars that are posted on that and available for folks to view. And then we also have some past keynotes and award shows on our YouTube channels. It's a great wealth of information. But our website is available and really easy to find and we've recently updated it.
[00:33:25] Jennifer: So hopefully easier to navigate as well.
[00:33:27] Rosalyn: Fantastic. Well, Jennifer, it's been [00:33:30] so wonderful to chat with you and thank you so much for sharing and getting us all pumped up for next year in Montreal.
[00:33:38] Jennifer: you. I'm very excited to be back in Canada and I'm excited to also come to Folk Music Ontario in October.
[00:33:47] Rosalyn: Yeah. Well, we look forward to seeing you there and I'm sure. You'll be around if folks want to meet with you or say hey.
[00:33:54] Jennifer: Would love that. Would love to, to meet people face to face.
[00:33:57] Rosalyn: great. Well, thanks so much, Jennifer. Have a [00:34:00] great day.
[00:34:00] Jennifer: Thank you. You have a great day too.
[00:34:02]
Credits
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[00:34:08] Rosalyn: That's all for this episode, friends. The ReFolkUs Podcast is brought to you by Folk Music Ontario. Find out more by heading to folkmusicontario.org/refolkus. That's R-E-F-O-L-K-U-S. The podcast is produced by Kayla Nezon and Rosalyn Dennett and mixed by Jordan Moore at The Pod Cabin. The opening theme is by King [00:34:30] Cardiac, and the artwork is by Jaymie Karn.