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YOU and the Music Business Tara Shannon To be successful in the business of music, you first need to be successful in the business of YOU! This interactive workshop will help you clarify your strategy as a music creator through discussion and hands on work. Understand your brand identity and how it is foundational to your success in building your audience. Bonus! All workshop attendees will receive a free digital copy of Tara’s book “YOU and the Music Business: A Self-Care Guide to Finding Balance and Joy in Today’s Music Industry”. Wisdom of the Elders Ron Olesko & Betsy Siggins This interactive session will offer invaluable insights and stories from folk music legends. Engage in discussions, ask questions, and gain wisdom on navigating the folk music landscape from these seasoned artists. Perfect for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of the folk tradition and its future. Somatic Voicework™ Vocal Health for the touring singer Grace Morrison This instructional panel will provide essential techniques and practices to maintain vocal health on the road. Learn from experts about effective voice care strategies, exercises, and tips tailored for touring singers to ensure peak performance and longevity in your career. With facilitators Grace Morrison (Somatic Voicework™ Levels I, II, III), Michelle Rosen (certified Somatic Voicework™ instructor), and vocal coach Louise Taylor (Hawaii School of Voice). Artists and Presenters Unite for Community, Engagement, and Growth Debby Xiadani In this panel, we will explore partnerships between venues and artists, discovering how creative programming can grow sustainable audiences. We’ll discuss how to introduce listeners to nationally touring as well as local talent, and build regular engagement via monthly series and residencies. We’ll delve into innovative ways to use performance spaces to elevate artists, and excite audiences. Join us as we uncover the strategies behind these collaborations, and learn how they cultivate community, engage new music-lovers, and nurture artistic endeavors. Keeping Yourself Healthy and Your Head in the Game Melissa Ferrick & Susan Langdon In this instructional session, Melissa Ferrick and Dr. Su Langdon will delve into key strategies for maintaining mental well-being in our demanding industry. Attendees will gain practical tips and techniques to stay balanced, focused, and resilient, helping to optimize performance both on and off the stage. The Art of the Residency A.J. Kiernan Facilitated by Tom Bianchi, Jessica Smucker, and AJ Kiernan, discover how regular series and residencies can build audiences. In this 60-minute instructional panel, you will discover the essential elements for a successful residency from artist, presenter, and promoter perspectives. Learn about the benefits for both artists and venues, while gaining insights into the whys and hows of establishing and maintaining a thriving residency program. The Idea – The Record – The Release This panel will focus on taking songs and albums from the seed of an idea, through seeing it out in the world. We will focus on strategies for pre-production, picking your team, the actual recording, and finally the release. We will come at this from the perspective of the artist, the producer, and the promoter. An Introduction to the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC): The What, How, and Why Melissa Ferrick Join MLC Education Ambassador Melissa Ferrick as she demystifies the blanket mechanical license and explores how the MLC has transformed the music industry. This session will provide a comprehensive overview of the MLC, offering valuable insights into its membership and processes. Attendees will learn about the roadmap to accessing the rightful compensation that belongs to them, ensuring they receive the earnings they deserve. The Folk Collective presents… Jami Smith Join us for a panel discussion featuring Matt Smith, Managing Director of Passim, Shea Rose, Consultant to Passim, along with members of The Folk Collective [Cliff Notez, Aleena Solomon, Lydia Harrell, Maxfield Anderson]. How can venues leverage their legacy to create a future folk music scene that authentically represents a wide range of voices, themes, and artistic expressions? Moderated by Jami Smith, creator of Songs That Saved Your Life, a queer rock history radio show and newsletter, this conversation will explore how The Folk Collective model, created and curated by Shea Rose, is helping to redefine perceptions of folk music by uplifting the often overlooked rich tapestry and diversity of its creators. Hear about their experiences both navigating challenges and celebrating successes on the way to better embodying our diverse and inclusive folk music scene.The Folk Collective at Passim supports diverse folk music artists in greater New England by providing them with a platform to reach new audiences, hone their craft, and amplify their unique voices. This innovative two-year cohort-based model addresses the challenges underrepresented artists face in the folk music industry by offering professional development, mentorship, collaborative space, and performance opportunities. For more information about The Folk Collective at Passim visit: passim.org/folkcollective Women’s Work(shop) Natalia Zukerman This discussion centers on the evolution of Women’s Music with an intersectional lens for today. Celebrate women and gender expansive artists with singer/songwriter Marissa Levy, Debby Xiadani, Artistic Director of The Rockwell Theatre in Cambridge, and legendary founding member of Club 47, Betsy Siggins, as Moderator. Guitar Maintenance & Repair Natalia Zukerman Pamela Means, through decades of touring, and a one year Brooklyn guitar repair shop apprenticeship, has developed a skillset for small instrument repairs and maintaining her own guitars. Pamela will demystify the particulars and show you how to perform your own setups, proper restring locking technique, how to check and adjust the action, clean input jacks, check and adjust intonation, and basically nerd out on all. Open Tunings & Percussive techniques for Songwriting Virtuoso guitarist, singer, and composer Vicki Genfan will demystify some open tunings (G, D & C, and Diatonic Chords), by teaching a simple method that will allow us to find our way around the fretboard in any key. With the addition of percussive techniques like thumb slaps, harmonic tapping and (guitar)body percussion, you’ll leave this workshop with an entirely new toolkit for composing your songs. Beyond Zoom – Navigating the Next Era of Livestreaming Ron Olesko Up

Erik Balkey  Erik Balkey is a national award-winning songwriter. He has written hundreds of songs and has toured the country. He charted No. 1 on the FolkDJ album charts as a solo artist and with the duo The Copper Ponies. He was a 2005 Kerrville New Folk Winner. He is now an artists’ rep for CD distribution and promotion to folk radio with his company Hudson Harding Music. With a history in folk music starting in the mid-nineties, Erik was a volunteer at the Fast Folk Cafe (NYC), Music Among Friends (Hoboken, NJ), Nameless Coffeehouse (Cambridge, MA) and Philadelphia Songwriters Association. He created and organized the Plowshares Songwriting Contest (Philadelphia, PA) which ran for seven years, and wrote a pre-blog era daily tour journal called “The Songwriter’s Tour Guide” chronicling years on the road. His song “Baseball in my Blood” has been featured on NESN, the Boston Red Sox television network. Tom Bianchi The 24 Hour Music mission statement is, “Presenting Concerts For Artists and Community.” 24 Hour Music has been presenting concerts mainly at The Burren, a world famous 100 to 200 seat room that has hosted folk legends Johnathan Edwards, Steve Forbert, Patty Larkin, Jeffrey Gaines, David Wilcox, Vance Gilbert as well as rock legends Greg Hawkes (The Cars,) Guster, Juliana Hatfield, Tanya Donelly (Belly, Throwing Muses, The Breeders,) Kay Hanley (Letters To Cleo,) Bill Janovitz (Buffalo Tom,) and we even hosted MLB World Series Winner Bronson Arroyo when he released his first original music record. We of course also host a wide variety of local artists and are not genre specific in any way. Michael Busack  As a steward of distinctive and dynamic places of both historic and cultural value, The Trustees is the nation’s first, and Massachusetts’ largest, preservation and conservation nonprofit, and its more than 100 reservations are destinations for residents, members, and visitors alike, welcoming millions of guests annually. Meghan Cary  Critically-acclaimed artist Meghan Cary didn’t mean to be a musician. When her fiancé unexpectedly died, she picked up his guitar and wrote her debut record, earning her Billboard’s “Critic’s Choice”. Her latest album, SING LOUDER, debuted top 10 on the US/International Folk DJ Chart, and John Platt of WFUV extols, “These times require songs of compassion and commitment, and Meghan has several which inspire us to reach our higher selves. She sings them with such infectious joy you can’t resist joining in.” A fan-favorite on the fest circuit, find Cary at Philly Folk, Black Bear Americana, Falcon Ridge, Woodstock and others, as well as music halls across the US.A professional stage, screen and voice actor, Cary has written and performs a one-woman show, records VO’s for tv and radio, and is currently collaborating on a Broadway-bound musical. Cary coaches performance and songwriting for universities, arts organizations, festivals and privately. Melissa Ferrick  Melissa Ferrick is an artist, Professor of the Practice at Northeastern University and founder of artist management company Drive Music Agency where she represents Brennan Wedl and Joh Chase. On Aug 15, 2023, she released “Black Dress,” her first single in eight years, via Kill Rock Stars Records, the date coinciding with the 30th anniversary of her first album, Massive Blur. Ferrick signed with Atlantic Records at the age of 21 and has released seventeen albums over the last twenty-five years, winning numerous awards for songwriting, production and performance. Melissa has shared the stage with countless acts, including Morrissey, Joan Armatrading, Weezer, Tegan and Sara, Mark Cohen, Paul Westerberg, Bob Dylan, John Hiatt, Ani DiFranco, k.d. Lang, Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin and more. Wanda Fischer I worked for more than four decades in PR/marketing/media relations while also doing folk DJ work at a major public radio station. Since I retired from my “day” job, I have been writing and marketing my own fiction. I am a member of the Folk Alliance Folk Radio Hall of Fame. Kay Francis A classically trained vocalist when it comes to songwriting she always goes back to her roots in folk music. Kay Francis has always been a singer storyteller going all the way back to childhood. She grew up in a home filled with music where her father played in a G.I. band. She received a vocal scholarship from the University of Miami in the late 70s and was often found performing with her guitar at local venues. Kay relocated to Canada in the late 80’s and continued performing part time at many events, festivals (Ottawa Jazz Festival, Winterlude, etc.) and sang with Opera Lyra. In 2022 they sold their family business to focus exclusively on her music. Her first single “Burning Clouds” was released in 2024 where 100% of the proceeds support families impacted by devastating wildfires. Kay’s sound: “Beautiful voice, haunting melodies, engaging stories through laughter and tears” Vicki Genfan  Winning the esteemed Guitar Player Magazine’s ‘Guitar Superstar’ award in 2008 andlauded as one of the top 100 female guitarists, Vicki plays her own percussive techniqueof ‘slap-tap’ acoustic guitar, and has been showcased as one of the world’s top guitarists atfestivals, Venues and Performing Arts Centers worldwide. In addition to being a dazzlinginstrumentalist, Vicki is an award-winning singer/songwriter with a high-energy stagepresence and an accomplished educator. Dan Gottfried Dan Gottfried is the co-founder of Voices in the Heights and serves as the treasurer of four non-profit boards. He has served on the Programming Committee for the NERFA Conference for four years and facilitates the NERFA monthly peer group for presenters. He was the executive director of a Unitarian Universalist Camp and Conference Center for almost 20 years, spent over thirty years as a clinical social worker, is a certified school district administrator and social studies teacher in NYS, and has a masters degree in both social work and instructional technology. During the pandemic he helped to create continuing opportunities for musicians to perform for a dedicated listening audience by streaming the Voices in the Heights Concerts. Since that time, he has been instrumental in developing an infrastructure at Voices in the Heights for

We are thrilled to unveil the Official Showcase Artists for the 2024 NERFA Conference, taking place November 21-24 in Portland, ME! This year, we received a record number of applications, with 190 talented acts vying for a spot. Our dedicated team of judges: Marissa Levy Lerer (The Listening Booth), Emily Read (One Longfellow Sq), Elena See (Folk Alley), Don Sheldon (Valley Stage Productions), and Lisa Schwartz (Cambridge Folk Festival), worked tirelessly to review each submission and select 20 standout Official Showcase Artists. The competition was fierce, and while we could only choose a limited number for the official showcases, there are still many performance opportunities available, including the EPK Showcase and the Curator’s Showcase, which will be announced in the coming weeks. Please join us in celebrating and congratulating the exceptional artists who will be gracing our stage this year. Stay tuned for more updates on the conference opportunities including the twenty-five private showcase hosts already confirmed for the late nights!