A number of booking agencies whose rosters include such artists were among the more than 300 exhibitors in the large EXPO Hall. The conference also featured networking opportunities galore, streamlined array of professional development workshops, peer group sessions, and networking opportunities galore.

Since the last in-person APAP conference in NYC in January 2020, the impacts of the pandemic; calls for racial equity, diversity and inclusion; and a shifting economy and workforce continue to have a major impact on the performing arts industry as it seeks to recover and reimagine itself.

For Lisa Richards Toney, who joined APAP as its president and CEO in 2020, the 2023 gathering also marked the first in-person conference of her tenure. As she noted in an email to members and colleagues last November, the conference has evolved to meet the shifting nature of the field and the times we live in. “None of this has been easy. In fact,it’s been downright hard,” she acknowledged during the conference’s opening plenary session. In welcoming people to what she called “the creative capital of the world,” Richards Toney said “We are a resilient community of colleagues from all across North America” and expressed excitement at “the feverish fury to reignite business [in the performing arts].”

APAP embraced the ‘less is more’ philosophy — with considerably fewer professional development sessions during the 2023 conference than in previous years in light of its increased year-round programming. This afforded attendees — more than one-third of whom were first-timers — more time to connect and network with colleagues, visit the exhibit halls, enjoy showcases, and just breathe.

For the first time, APAP did not produce a printed conference program and other printed materials (or a tote bag in which to carry them), relying instead on an online platform called Swapcard that was also available as an app.

Showcases of Note Took Place at the Host Hotel and at Venues Around NYC

Showcases took place both at the New York Hilton Midtown, the conference hotel, and at venues throughout Manhattan. A few also were set in other New York City boroughs and beyond.

“When I talk to presenters, I sometimes tell them I always strive for events that are win/win/win and are successful for the attendees, for the host organization and its community, and for myself and anyone joining me;” Waldman told AcousticMusic Scene.com.

So once I had my mini-preview set to open the evening with Fairbanks native and super fiddler, Caitlin Warbelow, and I playing my ‘Fairbanks Cabin Waltz’ composition, then joined by Ilan Moss on banjo and Jefferson Hammer on guitar, I had my own successful time of it. And, later, I had my couple of tunes, with poems, joined by Ilan. Fun, too, for me, and I heard positive things afterwards… I got very positive feedback from my troupe of musicians and from Danielle, so that all checked the box of ‘me and anyone joining me’.”

Waldman, who has been attending, exhibiting and mentoring at APAP conferences since 2007 and began hosting a Friday night roots music variety show three years later, said that also received very positive feedback from attendees. “One attendee emailed me during the evening to say how much they were enjoying it. Another told me later how inspired they were from being introduced to such a wide range of musicians that were different, yet all fit together.” However, he said that his favorite response came from someone who arrived the earliest, said they were tired and would probably only stay for a half hour, and stayed for the whole three hours (later informing him that they passed word about the evening to their venue’s artistic director). “A number of people stopped me through the week to either say they were there and thoroughly enjoyed it, or weren’t there but heard it was fantastic. With proper follow-up and any luck at all I’ll get work I probably wouldn’t have gotten otherwise– and I hope some also goes to the artists I invited and to Danielle’s artists.”

“The evening had a beautiful range of artists performing that included flamenco, sea shanties, masterful kora playing, jazz manouche, beautiful song and fiddle tunes, poetry … all complementing each other. One of my artists, Tamar Ilana, who was performing with Shelley Thomas on oud, came to me immediately after her opening single-song [and said] that her heart was so full from the experience and was just loving it. The energy in the room was beautiful and felt like a perfect return to an in-person APAP for all involved, I believe.”

So three years later, he returned – having lined up two showcases for his new solo shanty show and planning to reconnect with as many of the people he had met in 2020 as possible. Dagher decided to focus less on the Expo Commons and found that the experience of showcasing changed how he interacted with people and how they interacted with him. “After the first showcase [the roots music variety show], random people came up to me to tell me that they had enjoyed my performance… I suddenly felt like less of a beggar and more of a commodity,” he said.

Dagher considered the showcase at Don’t Tell Mama to be great – “despite and because of being chaotic. I heard lots of great artists and met some fascinating people. According to Danielle Devlin, my agent and co-host of the event, I generated some interest from presenters. The venue was intimate and having the other musos there helped create a great atmosphere.”

Folquebec Shines Spotlight on Artists from the Canadian Province

Dagher also performed a short set during a Folquebec Spotlight showcase at the host hotel that he described as “an entirely different, though no-less enjoyable experience.” Comparing it to showcases he had seen and participated in at other conferences, he noted that the hotel room “had a colder feel and the lights made it hared to connect with the public, but I still had fun playing for and with them. The loud altercation between the lighting tech and the maintenance guy during my set actually helped put me at ease. Again, I felt like people were treating me with a little more respect than when I was just a delegate. I hope that I get a lot of work out of the conference, and I will definitely go back next year.”

Garand previously informed AcousticMusicScene.com that Folquebec’s formation stemmed from conversations at a Folk Alliance conference in 2000 and that he views APAP and other conferences as “opportunities to share our knowledge and contribute to the concept of cultural reciprocity among artists. Through its participation in such conferences, Folquebec “looks forward to developing an ongoing partnership with leaders of North American cultural organizations to bring together our strengths, our resources, our complementaries in the advancement of the performing arts sector, and music in particular, of the broad cultural diversity of human expression through the arts,” he said.

The quartet’s Clay Ross (who also fronts both Matuto and Ranky Tanky) joined with composer, banjoist and producer Jayme Stone — with whom he has previously co-produced Global Routes Music Showcases — to also present an interactive, multi-part Composing Your Career professional development series of workshops for artists. [Editor’s Note: As someone who is often retained by artists and others to write bios for them, I sat in on part of one of their workshops, Tell a Better Story, Book Better Gigs and found that the information and insights that they shared pretty much conformed with mine.]

Among the other folk and roots artists who showcased their talents during the conference were two-time IBMA Entertainers of the Year Balsam Range, Colorado-based folk and Americana duo Bettman & Halpin, Colombian-Panamanian roots duo Calle Sur, bluesician Eli Cook, singer-songwriter and pianist Annie Moscow and her trio, New York-based progressive bluegrass band Nefesh Mountain, Mali Obamsawin Sextet (whose music is a blend of blues, jazz, hymns, folk songs, and native cultures), ebullient New York-based jig-rockers The Prodigals, 2022 International Blues Challenge Winner Eric Ramsey (whose fingerpicking and bottleneck slide playing really impressed this writer), and The Scooches (a band whose spirited and joyful music features an eclectic mix of Roaring ‘20s, global folk, blues, gospel, New Orleans jazz, Americana, and more). Americana-cowboy country outfit Bill & the Belles, banjoist Nora Brown with Stephanie Coleman, and balladeer Phoebe Hunt shared a Concerted Efforts Presents bill at Rockwood Music Hall during the conference. Susan Werner, a very witty and versatile singer-songwriter who accompanies herself on both guitar and piano, played Iridium, a Manhattan nightclub that primarily features jazz artists. There were also musical tributes to such artists as Joni Mitchell and Van Morrison, while Darrah Carr Dance presented “Celidh“ Irish Music & Dance and Allan Harris and others shared excerpts from Cross The River — a musical by him and Pat Harris that relates the story of an escaped slave named Blue who journeys to Texas and becomes one of the first Black Cowboys. Artists in various other musical genres also showcased their talents, while comedy, dance and theatrical showcases also were part of the mix.

About the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP)

Based in Washington, DC, APAP (apap365.org) is a nonprofit national service, advocacy and membership organization dedicated to developing and supporting robust performing arts presenting field and the professionals who work within it.

Born on December 24, 1939, Robin Morton grew up in Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. His dad was a jazz enthusiast and turned him on to jazz as a child. Morton tried to play the cornet during his youth and also developed an interest in skiffle music before The Liverpool Spinners, among others, began to spark his interest in folk music around 1959. He regularly watched the weekly Hootennny TV show that emanated from Edinburgh, Scotland and featured such folk artists as Martin Carthy and Archie Fisher. While living briefly in Manchester, he also picked up the guitar around that time.

After returning home to Portadown, he began frequenting a nearby pub, where he’d occasionally sing traditional songs during singer sessions. Later, while at Queens University in Belfast studying social work, Morton became involved in the Glee Club led by Phil Coulter, in whose shows he performed a few times (primarily Woody Guthrie songs). He also launched a folk society there in 1963, although he left it and the university after a year to continue his studies at London School of Economics. While in London, he befriended Ewan MacColl, who helped to spur his interest in collecting traditional folk songs.

Upon returning to Belfast, Morton worked in child psychiatry for a while and also helped to launch the Ulster Folk Music Society. He sought to pair music and song together, rather than just separate instrumental and singing sessions, as was the norm. It was through the folk music society that Morton met Cathal McConnell and Tommy Gunn. The three would launch the traditional Irish folk group Boys of the Lough, named after a reel that they enjoyed playing, in 1967. MacColl and Peggy Seeger arranged the band’s first tour. Morton performed and toured with the seminal band, through various personnel changes, for a dozen years.

Morton also collected songs from Ulster and compiled them in a book entitled Folk Songs Sung in Ulster that was published in 1970, along with two albums featuring recordings of traditional singers. Late that year, he moved to Edinburgh.

During the late 1970s, Morton, who had previously worked as a producer for Topic Records, opened a recording studio and established Temple Records, a label devoted to acoustic Scottish (and some Irish) traditional music. Based in a converted church in the village of Temple, near Edinburgh, the label’s mission is “to release music that reflects a great, proud, timeless tradition.” Its first album was Alison Kinnaird’s The Harp Key (1978). Temple Records has released a number of classic, groundbreaking and seminal recordings over the years by such artists as Marie Ni Chathasaigh, John McCusker, Brian McNeill, Flora McNeill, and Christine Primrose. But, perhaps, the most notable act on its roster is Battlefield Band, a group that Morton also managed for more than 40 years — until his passing.

Founded in 1969 and performing under the banner “Forward with Scotland’s Past,” Battlefield Band performs an inspired mix of ancient and modern traditional music and songs. “What the internationally renowned Irish band, the Chieftains, have done for traditional Irish music, Battlefield Band are doing for the music of Scotland,” according to Billboard magazine.

Robin Morton was a passionate champion for the music that he loved. Through the years, in many different capacities (including a short stint as director of the Edinburgh Folk Festival from 1986-1988), he did so much to preserve, produce and promote traditional Scottish folk music – and, more broadly, traditional Celtic music. He left an indelible mark and will be sorely missed.

A pioneer among producers of outdoor music festivals, Wein (pronounced WEEN) created the renowned Newport Jazz Festival in 1954 and the Newport Folk Festival, which has been held in or near the coastal Rhode Island resort city since 1959.

The Newport Folk Festival has featured a wide array of established and emerging artists over the years and helped to launch the careers of such artists as Joan Baez and Bob Dylan during the 1960s. Pete Seeger was among the folk luminaries who backed Wein when he launched the Newport Folk Festival. “Working with Pete has been one of the joys of my life and it’s influenced me in my relationships with people and artists in general,” Wein told AcousticMusicScene.com in 2012. “It’s because of that that I became deeply involved with the traditions of folk music.” However, Wein never felt constrained to just book artists whose music neatly fit into the “folk” genre; Dylan’s electrifying performance at the festival in 1965 shocked folk purists.

Born on October 3, 1925 in Lynn, Massachusetts, Wein grew up in Newton, near Boston. An accomplished jazz pianist, who led his own band for a while, Wein, nevertheless, opted to focus his career on presenting music — rather than performing it. A former Boston jazz club (Storyville and Mahogany Hall) and record label owner, artist manager, music columnist and, in later years, an executive board member of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Wein also wrote Myself Among Others: A Life in Music (Da Capo Press, 2003), an autobiography that has become a major reference on jazz history. Within its pages he noted that “the thing that has given me the most gratification in my life” was the acceptance that he received as a player himself from such jazz luminaries as Lester Young and Sidney Bechet.

“Jazz came out of a folk tradition, although they [jazz and folk music] went in different directions as years went by,” said Wein during that January 2012 interview with AcousticMusicScene.com. He noted that the relationship between the two was the impetus behind the popular New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival that he created in 1970.

Through its online showcases, Folquebec – an active participant at APAP conferences for the past nine years — aims to offer conference attendees an introduction to Quebec’s traditional, folk and world music scene, according to Gilles Garand, president and artistic director of the nonprofit organization that is now celebrating its 20th anniversary.

Quebecois traditional music, built around dancing, represents a melding of musical influences. It’s inspired by traditions brought to Quebec by early French settlers and later, by Celtic traditions brought to Anglo-Canada by Irish and, particularly, Scottish settlers.

By the early 20th century, a distinctly Quebecois version of traditional music had developed. It drew from such diverse influences as Scottish step dancing, Irish instrumental tunes, European dance forms, old French songs and 78 rpm records from the U.S. and Canada. The fiddle became Quebec’s primary instrument at the time, closely followed by the accordion. Other instruments have since been added to the mix as some contemporary artists have sought to reinterpret and keep Trad music alive.

As emcee of the Folquebec TradFest, Garand introduced five of the Canadian province’s premier folk and roots groups – Bon DeBarras, De Temps Antan, Grosse Isle, Les Grands Hurleurs, and Le Vent du Nord. Each group showcased its talents live from Montreal’s Cabaret du Lion d’Or for 25 minutes.

Bon Débarras, which in English translates to good riddance, is a trio of multi-instrumentalists (Dominic Desrochers, Jean-Francois Dumas and Veronique Plasse) whose original roots repertoire is steeped in in poetry and rhythmic sounds, and blends traditional French-Canadian, Irish, Scottish and English musical influences with those of contemporary, multicultural Montreal. Besides accordion, banjo, guitars, harmonica and vocals, Bon DeBarras’ music features the infectious beat of podorhythmie (foot percussion) –- a staple of Quebecois traditional music.

De Temps Antan is a high-energy trio that is helping to bring Quebecois traditional folk music into the 21st century while adding original music stylings, a contemporary flair and joie de vivre. Since banding together nearly 17 years ago, Andre Brunet (a champion fiddler, who has also performed with Celtic Fiddle Festival), Eric Beaudry (rhythm guitar, mandolin, bouzouki and clogging) and Pierre Luc-DuPuis (accordion) have brought their rousing performances of songs jigs and reels to stages worldwide.

All three members previously were members of La Bottine Souriante, the band most closely associated with the 1970s folk revival in Quebec. With its instrumentation, a vast repertoire of call-and-response songs, and the French-Canadian seated clogging or step-dancing that often accompanies these proto-typical songs, La Bottine Souriante (The Smiling Boot) became a seminal Quebecois folk band that set the standard for De Temps Antan and others to follow.

Grosse Isle is a trio featuring Irish uileann piper Fiochra O’Regan, Quebec fiddler-pianist and singer Sophie Lavoie and noted guitarist Andre Marchand, who blend traditional Irish and Quebecois traditional music with Lavoie’s own compositions. The trio takes its name from an island in the St. Lawrence River where many Irish immigrants to Canada lived,

Les Grands Hurleurs is a trio fronted by Nicolas Pellerin. While rooted in Quebecois traditional music, the trio also fuses elements of classical, gypsy, folk music and electronica and adds its own arrangements to the mix. Currently working on another album for release this year, Les Grands Hurleurs have won three Felix Awards, Francophone Canada’s Juno equivalent.

Le Vent du Nord is a lively, soulful and prolific group of talented singers and multi-instrumentalists that has been expanding the bounds of Quebecois traditional music for nearly 20 years. The globetrotting ensemble has been the well-deserved recipient of multiple Junos, Felix and Canadian Folk Music Awards. Its repertoire includes both traditional folk and original tunes that are performed on button accordion, fiddle guitar and hurdy-gurdy.

Noting that the formation of Folquebec stemmed from conversations at a Folk Alliance conference in 2000, Garand views conferences as “opportunities to share our knowledge and contribute to the concept of cultural reciprocity among artists.” Through its participation, Folquebec looks forward “to developing an ongoing partnership with leaders of North American cultural organizations to bring together our strengths, our resources, our complementarities in the advancement of the performing arts sector, and music in particular, of the broad cultural diversity of human expression through the arts,” he said.

“In this most unusual year of the COVID-19 pandemic, for music professionals, APAP was once again a inspiring meeting place and unique opportunity to meet people, to share and exchange together, discover new talent, new music and explore how to achieve in a virtual way our cultural objectives for the future.”

A Booking Agent and Traditional Music and Dance Aficionado Shares Her Thoughts

In addition to the Folquebec TradFest, two Quebec-based musical acts –- MAZ and Melisande (electrotrad] – were represented during the virtual conference in a pre-recorded showcase presented by the booking agency Canis Major Music. Both acts have previously showcased their talents at APAP under the banner of Folquebec.

Fusing trad, jazz and electric sounds, MAZ is a genre-bending band that is putting a modern spin on Quebec’s traditional music. The quartet, fronted by Marc Maziade, incorporates keyboards, electric guitar and electro beats, along with fiddle, banjo, double bass, vocals and Quebecois foot percussion.

The two bands were featured in a Future Folk and All That Jazz showcase, along with several non- Quebec-based clients of the booking agency that was launched about a year ago by Danielle Devlin, an aficionado of Celtic and French-rooted forms of traditional music and dance, who is also a competitive Scottish highland dancer and hosts house concerts and workshops.

“As a new agency, it was vitally important to me to stay ahead of the curve and double down on marketing, promotion, and bringing my artists to the fore in this unique time when the playing field was completely leveled,” Devlin told AcousticMusicScene.com. “What many saw as a crisis, I aimed to see as a beautiful opportunity, Very early on – before attending my first [of several] virtual conferences – I laid plans to host a themed series of virtual showcases for the artists on my roster, sort of a Canis Major Music festival of artists.” Noting that 18 of the 21 artists on her roster took part in one of four online showcase events for presenters last November that she produced, Devlin said: “Their work and commitment to make these happen made me feel so humbled, honored, and proud to be working with them.”

Future Folk and All That Jazz was among those virtual showcases which she called collectively Extraordinary Times and Artists and which she re-streamed on the APAP conference platform in January –- drawing what she called “a surprisingly good number of new views.” Each of the participating artists and acts also now has a promo reel that Devlin can continue to use in pitching virtual and in-person shows, while the showcases have resulted in real work being booked – both new virtual cultural programming and in-person performance offers, she said.

Devlin is also grateful to organizations like APAP that have recognized the importance of the performing arts in these challenging times and have adapted accordingly by pivoting to hold virtual conferences.

Noting that the platforms used for hosting these conferences have varied widely – in their ease of use as an exhibitor, as well as ease of interaction and access as an attendee,” Devlin said: “If you come with the right attitude, accepting that this is all a very new tech field and that there will be some difficulties, none of the small annoyances or hurdles are really that much of a challenge… Knowing that everyone is in the same boat, and most are not available to book new in-person work, the environment during these events has remained far more low-key and less of a hustle than would be if they were in-person.”

Apparently, however, virtual conferences are no less productive. Since the pandemic forced the closure of venues and cancellation of tours last March, Devlin said she has had “the amazing opportunity to be a part of producing and selling virtual programs” for about half of the artists on my roster – and in good number.” Among them have been concerts, interviews, workshops, and master classes in cooperation with festivals, performing arts centers, and presenting organizations across North America. “These are presenters who have also embraced the possibilities in this moment and who recognize the importance of continuing to support the arts during this crucial and difficult time for all,” she added.

Lisa Richards Toney, APAP’s new president and CEO, expressed similar sentiments during the virtual APAP Conference On its opening day, she noted that the virtual programming was designed to set the agenda for the year ahead and the recovery of the live performing arts. During the conference’s closing plenary session, she told attendees: “This time together has been invigorating, it has been igniting. This is not the end. We are not returning to business as usual… This is the beginning to engaging more equitably, to advancing the field as the richly diverse ecosystem that we are, to building forward with anti-racism as our lens, to addressing the climate crisis, to centering the voices of Black, Indigenous, and all people of color, to better visa and immigration policies, to outdoor programming, to resilience and mental health, to recovering in an altered touring landscape, to public health and re-opening, and to the art of going virtual.” Richards Toney continued: “We’ve got work to do. But we have imagination to uncover and promises to uphold. We are just getting started. We are stronger together, and we are worth it.”

About the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP)

In addition to hundreds of performance showcases, APAP’s first all-online conference in its 64 years featured an array of professional development programming and networking events, a virtual exhibit hall, and pitch sessions.

The Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP) is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit national service, advocacy and membership organization dedicated to developing and supporting a robust, performing arts presenting field and the professionals who work within it. APAP works to effect change through advocacy, professional development, resource sharing and civic engagement. More information may be found on its website, www.APAP365.org.

Editor’s Note: With the exception of Grosse Isle, who were new to me, I had seen all of the bands highlighted in this article showcase their talents at conferences and/or perform in concert/festival settings previously –- Le Vent du Nord and Melisande [Electrotrad] multiple times. It was also my pleasure to conduct an on-stage, pre-concert interview with De Temps Antan on Long Island in the summer of 2015. I have been attending and reporting on the APAP Conference annually since launching AcousticMusicScene.com in January 2007.

A survey released last week by Americans for the Arts, a national advocacy organization, estimated that financial losses in the sector to be $14.8 billion and revealed that more than one-third of nonprofit arts and cultural organizations have felt compelled to layoff or furlough employees in the wake of the ongoing public health crisis.

“We’ll be back in the theaters… Performers will be performing. Audiences will be enjoying it … It will happen,” Fauci sought to reassure online viewers during the annual conference that was forced to go entirely online in light of the pandemic. A nonprofit national service, advocacy and membership organization dedicated to developing and supporting a robust performing arts presenting field and the professionals who work within it, APAP generally draws thousands of people to New York City each January for its conference.

During his conversation with Maurine Knighton, program director for the arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (on whose board he also serves), Fauci acknowledged that “being closed off to access to the live performing arts” has added to “the gloom of the situation.” He said: “With an effective level of herd immunity, you can restore some sense of normalcy.” Fauci, who also is the longtime chief of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation and chief medical advisor for President-Elect Joe Biden, cited the need to vaccinate between 70-85 percent of the population to achieve/attain herd immunity and noting that the current vaccines are 94-95% efficacious. “If everything goes right, this will occur sometime in the fall of 2021 so that by the time we get to the early to mid-Fall, you can have people feeling safe performing onstage, as well as people in the audience.”

He expressed serious concern that “There’s still some skepticism about the vaccines … amazingly crazy skepticism.” Citing “the extraordinary divisiveness in our society that is so intense that it clouds logical reasoning,” he urged people to take what’s happening more seriously and adhere to public health measures. ‘We need to get the level of community spread as low as we possibly can,” Fauci said, citing the need for continued vigilance in wearing masks, social distancing and frequent hand washing.

He spoke of asymptomatic spread of the coronavirus COVID-19, noting that about 40 percent of those affected have no symptoms at all and that slightly more than 50 percent of infections stem from exposure to those who are asymptomatic. In other words, people who are asymptomatic carriers of the virus are unwittingly causing others to get seriously ill and to possibly die.

Even after getting vaccinated, people should continue to follow public health guidelines, Fauci said. “People who have been vaccinated can’t feel comfortable sitting in an audience with others who may not have been vaccinated. You still should be wearing a mask.”

Fauci advised that theaters and other live performance venues should engage the services of engineering consultants to ensure that there is adequate ventilation and air flow for the safety of all and to reduce the virus transmission rate. Besides addressing ventilation issues and installing any requisite air filters, Fauci said that venues should have hand sanitizers available and continue to require audience members to wear masks – something he believes may be a norm for some time. He also suggested that venues could follow the lead of some U.S.-based airlines by adopting rules requiring audience members to provide negative test results in order to be seated. “I think you can then start getting back to almost full capacity of seating,” he said.

While recognizing that touring revenue is the lifeblood for many performing artists, Fauci noted that their ability to resume safely touring is dependent on infection rates where they are coming from and where they are going. This has implications for routing tours once they resume. In response to a question, he said that while the same applies to international touring artists seeking to perform in the U.S., he is more concerned that other countries won’t want U.S.- artists to go there due to high infection rates here.

Fauci urged those in the performing arts field to help set an example for others, noting that “people look up to who their heroes are” and encouraging artists to engage in public health campaigns. Theaters and other large venues also can be used as locations for vaccinations, he added.

Immediately following the online conversation with Dr. Fauci, APAP hosted a live-streamed panel discussion on Reopening and Restarting: Safety Protocols, Strategies and Investments. Panelists examined steps to be taken in preparing for the resumption of live events and touring as audiences return and capacities increase.

The APAP Conference – which also features an array of virtual professional development sessions and artist showcases, as well as virtual exhibit hall, online pitch sessions, affinity group meeting and networking opportunities – continues through January 12. More information on APAP may be found on its website: www.apap365.org.

Risk and Resilience is the theme of the 2020 conference “[It] will provide an important lens for our industry as we take stock of the risks we’ve taken to stay resilient and support the creative forces that have encouraged discovery, empathy and courage in our field,” said Mario Garcia Durham, APAP’s president and CEO. Conference programming will reflect how creative professionals lean into the risk that is inherent in the creation and discovery of art-making and arts-presenting, while embodying the resilience that is intrinsic to being part of and responding to the world around us – becoming stronger as we flex with it.

Several pre-conference events on Thursday and Friday, Jan. 9 and 10 (including professional development and networking sessions and the free, two-day Wavelengths: Global Music Conference at APAP (featuring workshops, panel discussions and musical interludes) are open to the public. To RSVP, click on the following link: https://bit.ly/APAPNYC2020PreConRSVP.

The conference’s daily plenary sessions featuring creative thinkers, thought leaders and artists also may be streamed live at facebook.com/APAPNYC. These include an artist-led opening session on “The Power of Risk-Taking” on Friday, Jan. 10, and a closing session on “Art, Life and Music” to be presented by musician Ben Folds on Tuesday morning, Jan. 14.

A Washington, DC-based nonprofit, APAP is a national service, advocacy and membership organization dedicated to developing and supporting a robust performing arts presenting field and the professionals who work within it. More information on APAP and is conference may be found online at www.apap365.og.

A number of booking agencies whose rosters include folk and roots artists were among the more than 300 exhibitors in the large EXPO Hall. The conference also featured networking opportunities galore, daily plenary sessions and keynote speakers, an awards ceremony, a town hall on the artist as activist, and a wide array of professional development workshops and forums.

The theme for 2019 was The Power of WE and highlighted the collective strength and the influence of the performing arts in the world. As Mario Garcia Durham, APAP’s president and CEO, noted in welcoming conference attendees: “At APAP, we celebrate both the impact of our work and the opportunity for each one of us to draw energy, ideas and inspiration from it. Our strength as an industry comes from the everyday efforts of individuals in this field, and our collective power – The Power of WE – that fuels us as performing arts professionals.”

Showcases of Note Took Place at the Host Hotel and at Venues Around New York City

More than 1,000 showcases (music, dance, theater, comedy, and more) took place both at the New York Hilton Midtown, the conference hotel, and at venues throughout Manhattan. A few also were set in other New York City boroughs.

January 4: As he has for the last two years, composer, banjoist and producer Jayme Stone curated an eclectic roots music showcase at the host hotel that extended from the late afternoon into the evening. Called the Secret Agents APAP Showcase, it featured a number of notable, primarily self-managed touring artists. As Stone told AcousticMusicScene.com last January, he sought “to create a space for independent roots/world music artists to have their music heard by performing arts center directors and festival programmers. My goal was to make the cost slightly more affordable for artists and to create an opportunity for underrepresented artists to have a seat at the table. Most of the artists at our showcase do not have agents, which is rare at this conference.”

Kicking off the musical festivities was Eleanor Dubinsky, a soulful NYC-based singer songwriter, and her ensemble. Although I’d seen and previously been impressed by Dubinsky’s singing and song stylings in solo and duo performances, having an ensemble backing her added a whole new dimension to her performance. Next up, Stone debuted his New Art-Pop Project. Among the artists joining him on that was Moira Smiley, herself a gifted songwriter and vocalist, who, accompanied by her group, VOCO, had her own short showcase immediately afterwards entitled The Voice is a Traveler.

“2019 was my first time at Wavelengths, and that was a revelation to experience the small, fierce like-minded group of people interested in traditional arts,” she said, expressing appreciation to the pre-conference’s organizers for screening her promo video for her The Voice Is A Traveler show. In my view, it was the best of a number of short videos and video clips screened. As for the Secret Agents Showcase, Smiley said: “I love [them] for their absolute weirdness of variety. It reminds you how many worlds of entertainment here are – some intersecting not-one-bit with your own! Yet we’re all here making our dough with these sights and sounds.”

Also part of the Secret Agents Showcase were Taarka, a Colorado-based adventurous Americana trio whose sound is a blend of bluegrass, folk, gypsy jazz, and soul; American samba band Os Clavelitos; the energetic Northeastern Brazilian party music of accordionist Rob Curto’s Forro For All; and the joyous Brazilian bluegrass sounds of Matuto (fronted by Clay Ross), among others.

The evening’s musical gumbo also included the jazzy Brazilian Americana sounds of Max Hatt & Edda Glass; Hen’s Teeth, a cross-continental duo with Janie Rothfield (Staunton, VA) and Nathan Bontrager (Cologne, Germany); DuoDuo Quartet comprised of percussive dancer Nic Gareiss with harpist Maeve Glichrist, plus cellist Natalie Haas (who frequently performs with Alasdair Fraser) with her husband-guitarist Yann Falquet (from the Quebecois folk group Genticorum) – all of whom have toured internationally for years; Jenna Moynihan & Mairi Chaimbeaul, a fiddle and harp duo; and Mark Kilianski & Nate Sabat featuring a guitarist and songwriter from the duo Hoot & Holler and the bassist and songwriter from Mile Twelve, a Boston-based bluegrass band. Each of the preceding artists (with the exception of Simien) also joined Waldman in kicking-off the evening’s musical festivities with renditions of “Cluck Old Hen.” A welcome and unexpected highlight of the evening was Waldman’s pairing of harpists Gilchrist and Chaimbeaul for a tune as a twin-harp interlude between sets.

Although some parts of the roots music variety show’s format have remained the same, “it’s always evolving, sometimes in subtle ways, sometimes a little more dramatically,” Waldman noted. “O stage, I’ll sometimes mention a quote I’ve learned as a writer: no surprise to writer, no surprise to reader, which means if a writer is surprised what he or she is writing, which happens, it’s almost guaranteed the reader will be surprised. I think that’s a good thing. It means extra energy. I try to bring that mindset to the show, and have actively encouraged collaborations, which brings an element of the unknown. If the musicians are not 100% sure what’s going to happen next, the audience won’t know either.”

The same lineup of artists who performed at Don’t Tell Mama also showcased their talents the previous night at Brooklyn’s Jalopy Theater. “One of the evolutions in the show was [that] we began booking Thursday night at the Jalopy Theater in Red Hook, which served not only as a public event (on Friday we only market to APAP attendees), but also as a run-through for Friday,” said Waldman.

While I was enjoying the music at Don’t Tell Mama, the Americana Music Association sponsored a showcase concert at Rockwood Music Hall on the Lower East Side featuring singer-songwriter Caitlin Canty with special guests Oshima Brothers, while Smithsonian Folkways recording artists Anna & Elizabeth (who have previously been part of Waldman’s roots music variety shows) shared their innovative, modern arrangements of old-time Appalachian music at Joe’s Pub; The Klezmatics played Irridium, a midtown jazz club; and the Seamus Egan Project (featuring one of the most influential artists in contemporary Irish music) showcased at the New York Hilton, as did Switchback, the Celtic and Americana duo of Brian Fitzgerald and Martin McCormick. A multimedia concert by Seamus Egan’s seminal band Solas was a highlight of a previous APAP Conference.

January 5: My Saturday afternoon is traditionally filled with Celtic showcases at the hotel, and it would have been this year had I not opted to remain on Long Island to emcee a concert that I’d helped to arrange. Among the artists who showcased their talents at the New York Hilton Midtown that day were ebullient New York-based jig-rockers The Prodigals and their alter egos Acoustic Micks; Cherish The Ladies, the all-female Irish band fronted by Joannie Madden; Philadelphia-based Celtic roots band RUNA; and the young Irish trad trio Socks in the Frying Pan (from County Clare), whom I saw the next day.

Also showcasing their talents at the hotel on Saturday afternoon were Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches and Sam Reider & Human Hands. Natalia Zukerman performed excerpts from The Women Who Rode Away, a multimedia show melding her talents as a songwriter, painter and storyteller. William Florian, formerly of The New Christy Minstrels, presented a taste of Those Were The Days: The Spirit and the Songs of the 1960s.

Tamara Kater of Toronto, Ontario- based Mavens Music Management reports that the showcase was well attended, with more than 100 people in the audience – about half of whom had APAP connections. “APAP is always rewarding, especially with the concurrent content of Wavelengths and GlobalFEST,” said Kater. “It’s inspiring and rewarding to meet such an array of presenters and artists all in one place, within a few days. Seeing the venues of New York and so many performances in such a compact amount of time is always a brilliant way to start off the new year.”

Also that evening, booking agency Madison House hosted a showcase at City Winery featuring Canadian singer-songwriter Rose Cousins, American singer-songwriter Willie Nile, and Madagascar-born singer-songwriter ad environmental activist Razia Said. Down at Rockwood Music Hall, The Blue Dahlia featuring Dahlia Dumont, a Brooklyn gal now living in Paris, who pens and sings songs in both English and French, appeared. Among the artists who showcased their talents at New York Hilton were Emmet Cahill (star of PBS’ Celtic Thunder) and the Jen Chapin Trio featuring the soulful urban folk singer-songwriter, her husband Stephan Crump on acoustic bass, and Jamie Fox on electric guitar.

January 6: Isle of Klezbos, a swinging all-female Klezmer sextet shared a bill and some members with the octet Metropolitan Klezmer (now celebrating its silver anniversary) as they performed some vintage instrumentals and Yiddish songs during Sunday brunch at City Winery. Although I enjoyed this last year, I skipped it this time. I also missed singer-songwriter Ellis Paul’s short early morning “Hero In You” showcase, during which he presented 15-minutes of excerpts from an award-winning educational program for children based on his CD and book of the same name that inspires youngsters to dream big.

I enjoyed several showcases that were part of Celebrate Our FOLK at Connolly’s Pub – Restaurant (Connolly’s Klub 45). The highlights were Kaia Kater and Kittel & Co.

Fronted by Jeremy Kittel — a virtuosic violinist, fiddler and composer — Kittel & Co. is an acoustic trio/string band with folk and jazz sensibilities whose sound also has Celtic, bluegrass and classical influences. Its recent release, Whorls, debuted at #1 on the Billboard bluegrass chart, while Kittel’s piece “Chrysalis” is among the nominees for a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition.

Also on the bill were singer-songwriter Ashley Davis, Making Movies (a Kansas City, MO-based band whose music defies easy categorization and whose set I missed, although I’ve previously seen the band at a Folk Alliance International conference held in its hometown), and the previously mentioned Socks in the Frying Pan.

Later in the evening, Kater shared a bill at Rockwood Music Hall as part of Quicksilver Productions, Lost Buffalo Artists & Smithsonian Folkways Present: The Women of Folkways with label mates The Bright Siders (featuring singer-songwriter and percussive dancer Kristin Andreassen – formerly of Uncle Earl – and Brooklyn-based child psychiatrist Dr. Kari Groff who create music that helps children and families have meaningful conversations about emotions) and Lula Wiles (a Boston–based, harmonious trio made up of Isa Burke, Eleanor Buckland, and Mali Obamsawin, whose Smithsonian Folkways debut, What Will We Do, is released Jan. 25 and who I had the pleasure of introducing at a couple of festivals).

Among the artists showcasing their talents at the New York Hilton in the evening were The Everly Set: Sean Altman and Jack Skuller Celebrate The Everly Brothers and Sultans of String, award-winning genre-bending world music instrumentalists from Toronto. Vanaver Caravan, a troupe of dancers and musicians, presented nearly half an hour of excerpts from Turn Turn Turn Turn, a show featuring more than 20 of Pete Seeger’s most celebrated songs and timed to coincide with the centenary of the late folk icon’s birth. Li, who describes his music as urban folk, did not impress this writer, while a Folk Legends showcase featuring two former members of The Kingston Trio was cancelled due to illness.

Also during the conference, Sage Artists shared excerpts of Call Mr. Robeson: A Life, With Songs, while cast members from Lonesome Traveler: The Concert performed short musical excerpts from the show, along with narration that helps tell the story of American folk and folk-rock music from Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan and beyond. Artists in various other musical genres also showcased their talents, while comedy, dance and theatrical showcases also were part of the mix.

Since there were no folk or roots music showcases of note on January 7, and the conference closed with a plenary session on the morning of January 8, I did not venture into NYC those days.

About the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP)

Based in Washington, DC, APAP is a nonprofit national service, advocacy and membership organization dedicated to developing and supporting a robust performing arts presenting field and the professionals who work within it. The next APAP Conference is set for Jan. 10-14, 2020 in New York City. More information on the organization may be found on its website: www.apap365.org.

The theme for 2018 was trans.ACT and focused on the transformative power of the arts. The conference’s plenary sessions explored the role and responsibility of the performing arts in our world today and the impact of trans-disciplinary thinking and partnerships that are breaking new ground in both the arts and the world beyond.

Showcases of Note Took Place at the Host Hotel and at Venues Around New York City

Showcases took place both at the New York Hilton Midtown, the conference hotel, and at venues throughout Manhattan. A few also were set in other New York City boroughs and beyond.

January 12:

January 13:

During the evening, I enjoyed extended sets of music by Jim Messina (of Loggins & Messina, Poco and Buffalo Springfield fame) and Grammy Award-winning southwest Louisiana-based Cajun band Beausoleil avec Michel Doucet at Iridium, a Manhattan nightclub that primarily features jazz artists. Back at the hotel late that night, I also enjoyed a short showcase by the vocal group Estonian Voices.

January 14:

January 15:

Other folk and roots artists who showcased their talents during the APAP Conference included The Abrams Brothers, vocals and harp duo Addi & Jacq, multi-instrumentalists Andes Manta, contemporary folk trio A Band Called Honalee, Russian folk ensemble Barnya, young Irish tenor Emmet Cahill (who is also a member of Celtic Thunder), Colombian-Panamanian roots duo Calle Sur, The Everly Set (Sean Altman and Jack Skuller), guitarist Vicki Genfan, seven-sibling act The Hunts, Georgian polyphonic choir Iberi, Quebec’s Melisande [Electrotrad], Guy Mendilow Ensemble, Mojo & the Bayou Gypsies, accordionist and composer-singer Sam Reider, eclectic roots ensemble Upstate Rubdown, Ottawa Valley fiddler April Verch and her band, and Yemen Blues. Randy Noojin presented 15-minute excerpts from Hard Travelin’ with Woody, his one-man multimedia show featuring the music and artwork of Woody Guthrie, as well as Seeger — A multimedia solo show featuring the music of Pete Seeger. Sage Artists shared excerpts of Call Mr. Robeson: A Life, With Songs.” Cast members from Lonesome Traveler: The Concert also performed short musical excerpts from the show, along with narration that helps tell the story of American folk and folk-rock music from Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan and beyond. Artists in various other musical genres also showcased their talents, while comedy, dance and theatrical showcases also were part of the mx.

Artists who Hosted Showcases Offer Their Reflections

Jayme Stone notes that he started curating a showcase at last year’s APAP Conference “to create a space for independent roots/world music artists to have their music heard by performing arts center directors and festival programmers. My goal was to make the cost slightly more affordable for artists and to create an opportunity for underrepresented artists to have a seat at the table. Most of the artists at our showcase do not have agents, which is rare at this conference.”

“Attending the conference has proven to have a profound impact on my touring career,” says Clay Ross, who fronts both Matuto and Ranky Tanky and produced the Global Routes Music Showcase with Stone. Noting that he’s been attending APAP conferences for the past seven years, Ross told AcousticMusicScene.com: “It’s given me the opportunity to connect with presenters, agents, managers, and other industry professionals around the world.” Those connections have helped prompt bookings for his bands at a number of prestigious Americana, roots and jazz venues and festivals.

“As an artist, I think it’s really important to understand the various perspectives, challenges and concerns associated with all sides of the business,” Ross continued. “By hanging around at conferences like APAP and forging relationships across the field, you start to see more clearly how your talents and interests might best align with potential partners. You start to understand that you don’t need to be everything to everyone, but can instead find your own comfortable niche. “

Waldman continues, “Going to APAP, we’re more apt to find jobs that pay $2,500, $5,000 and up.” While acknowledging that nothing is guaranteed, he believes that “by offering this particular roots music showcase evening, I’m nudging the odds in my favor. It’s an investment I’ve been happy to make.”

“Because I attend so many [conferences], I don’t feel stressed thinking it’s now or never. I see people I’ve met in prior years [and those] I’ve never met before. If some jobs come my way, great — but it doesn’t have to be the result of a particular conference or showcase. It’s invariably the result of attending as many of these conferences as I can.” He maintains that presenters who attend APAP conferences tend to have more experience in the field, access to bigger budgets, and are just so inundated with pitches from artists and their agents that they are virtually impossible to reach by email or phone. “But at a conference there’s the chance to actually meet someone which means if I do have reason to send an email or make a phone call, there’s a much greater chance of having the email returned or the call taken.”

WAVELENGTHS World Music Pre-Conference Features An Inspirational Keynote

Among several arts-related forums that preceded the conference was a two-day WAVELENGTHS World Music Pre-Conference featuring a keynote, panel discussions, workshops, and an artist pitch session co-produced by music PR firm Rock Paper Scissors in cooperation with GlobalFEST.

Keynoting WAVELENGTHS was Emel Mathlouthi, a Tunisian singer-songwriter whose songs played a major role in Arab Spring and led to her being called “the voice of the Tunisian revolution.” She offered heartfelt comments and inspiring thoughts as she spoke of the role of the artist in turbulent times and the importance of empathy.

Here’s a link to a video of Emel performing her song “ Kelmti Horra “(“My Word is Free”) during the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Concert:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ79iEfus8E

“For me, art has always been very powerful in connecting us…[and] in opening doors, [and in transcending] barriers and limits,” she said. “We’re all coming from the same place, and we all have a heart … Art is an international language. I really wanted to convey that,” she continued, noting her collaborations with musicians from other parts of the world. Until recently, Emel, who cites Joan Baez among her influences, has primarily written and sung music in Arabic, and some of her songs contain messages that transcend politics.

She advocates for the elimination of ethnic and political silos that have been used to pigeonhole and minimize artists’ cross-cultural appeal and expressing her personal desire to appeal to people based on her humanity, rather than feel like just an ethnic or political artist. “We’re reaching times where all the concepts have to change and allow all the artists who are coming from the world music sphere to be able to explore themselves and go beyond any preconceived notions,” she declared. While acknowledging that she has a conscience and a point of view, and expressing pride in the social impact that her music has had in helping to energize the movement for change in the Arab world, she concluded: “At the end of the day, I’m an artist, a musician, a singer.”

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About the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP)

A Washington, DC-based nonprofit –- previously known as the Association of Performing Arts Presenters until changing its name last year — APAP is a national service, advocacy and membership organization dedicated to developing and supporting a robust performing arts presenting field and the professionals who work within it.

“As artists and arts makers, we must embrace our role to engage in the constant and dynamic societal transformation that we are a part of by acknowledging it, reflecting it, discussing it, and leading it,” says Mario Garcia Durham, APAP’s president and CEO. “Our strength as an industry lies in our ability to create, produce, present, share and stimulate audiences everywhere with works that both embrace and acknowledge our differences and increase our understanding of one another.”

The next APAP Conference in New York is set for January 4-8, 2019. More information on the organization may be found on its website: www.apap365.org.

The national service, advocacy and membership organization remains dedicated to developing and supporting a robust performing arts presenting field and the professionals who work within it, but now plans to include more arts professionals in its membership.

This marks the third name change in the 60-plus year history of the organization that was launched in 1957 as the Association of College and University and Community Arts Managers and became the Association of College, University and Community Arts Administrators in 1973.

“Our name has changed once again to reflect not only growth, but also the range of experience and expression in our field,” says Mario Garcia Durham, APAP’s president and CEO. “The new name more perfectly describes the full range of distinctive roles professionals play, from the creation to the presentation and dissemination of the performing arts.” He noted that in addition to the updated name, APAP has introduced a pilot initiative called Artist Access — a one-year introductory membership program that enables qualified individual professional artists who have never been an organizational member of APAP, and who have never attended its annual conference as a full registrant, to become a member and attend its annual members conference at reduced rates. More information may be found at artistaccess.apap365.org.

Several thousand people are expected to converge on New York City, Jan. 12-16, 2018 for the annual conference. The theme for 2018 is transACT and focuses on the transformative power of the arts. The global performing arts marketplace and conference will feature more than 1000 showcases (including a few-dozen featuring folk and roots music artists), nearly 400 exhibitors, networking opportunities galore, daily plenary sessions and keynote speakers, and a wide array of professional development workshops and forums

“As artists and arts makers, we must embrace our role to engage in the constant and dynamic societal transformation that we are a part of by acknowledging it, reflecting it, discussing it, and leading it,” says Durham.

More information and registration forms for the 2018 APAP/NYC Conference may be found at https://www.apapnyc.org.

“APAP/NYC presents significant opportunities, economically and creatively, for the performing arts community,” says Mario Garcia Durham, APAP’s president and CEO. “We provide a platform for those working in the performing arts to engage in discussions and solutions around pressing current issues such as cultural conflict and social justice. These are issues that have intensified since last January and that resonate throughout our communities, and fuel our collective need for innovation, creativity and partnership. We will also further explore the real challenges of equity, access and inclusion continually being addressed by performing arts community leaders.”

Several pre-conference events on Thursday and Friday, Jan. 5 and 6 (including APAP’s Professional Development Institute and the Wavelengths: APAP Global Music Pre-Conference, featuring workshops, panels discussions and artist pitch sessions arranged by music PR firm Rock Paper Scissors in cooperation with globalFEST that takes place concurrently) are open to the public, while the conference’s plenary sessions featuring creative thinkers, thought leaders and artists from around the world will be live-streamed via Howlround.tv. Among them is Taylor Mac, a playwright, actor, singer-songwriter and performance artist, whose most recent work, “A 24-Decade History of Popular Music,” is a 24-hour-long marathon of American song that Scott Stoner, an APAP vice president, says “speaks directly to today’s headlines around equality, equity, civility and our fundamental human rights.” For information on the sessions to be live-streamed and to find a link to RSVP for them, visit www.artspresenters.org, click on the Conference tab along the top of the home page and then on Live Streaming under Programs & Events in the menu at the bottom of the conference’s home page.

Folk and Roots Artists to Showcase Their Talents

Randy Noojin will perform excerpts from Hard Travelin’ with Woody, his multimedia solo show featuring the music and artworks of Woody Guthrie. Gregory Greene leads jig-rockers The Prodigals and their mellower side, The Acoustic Mix. Clay Ross fronts Matuto (a NYC-based Brazilian bluegrass ensemble) and Ranky Tanky (performing Gullah music from the Carolina coast). Sunday brunch double-bills at City Winery (also open to the public) will feature Metropolitan Klezmer and Isle of Klezbos.

Dana Louise & The Glorious Birds (with Trout Fishing in America) plays the Iridium on Thursday night, while Susan Werner, a gifted singer-songwriter known for her musical versatility and for her witty repartee during live performances, showcases her talents at the midtown jazz club on Saturday night.

Artists in various other musical genres also will showcase their talents, while the APAP Conference will feature comedy, dance and theatrical showcases as well, along with programming geared towards children and families. Conference exhibition halls will again teem with booking agents and presenters eager to speak with them, and there’ll be a whole lot of networking opportunities.

A Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, APAP is a national service, advocacy and membership organization dedicated to developing and supporting a robust performing arts presenters field and the professionals who work within it.