FARMette – a ONE DAY Conference – April 28th
Can’t wait till October to see your FARM friends? Looking for a small sample of what happens at our full weekend FARM Gathering in the fall? Unable to make it to St. Louis this year?
Join us in Fayette, Ohio for a mini FARM conference. We’ll be taking over the Historic Fayette Opera House with a day long of workshops, mini performance lane, open mics during lunch and dinner and official showcase concert in the evening that will be open to the public.
Showcase submissions will be accepted beginning on Monday, January 9 until February 20.
Registration will also open on Monday by mail-in form. Rates include 2 meals. Venues and DJs attend for only the cost of their meals. Evening showcase concert included (concert-only tickets are available). Fayette is located in Northwestern Ohio just a couple of hours from many Michigan, Indiana and Ohio metropolises.
Another Great FARM Gathering!
It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly 3 weeks since we converged on the Holiday Inn in Bolingbrook, Illinois. From all reports, this was yet another wonderful year of music, workshops, camaraderie and all the joy that comes from spending time with like-minded folkies!
Those in attendance had the opportunity to soak up the unique wisdom of Michael P Smith in a killer key note address, help us honor this year’s awardees – Bob Blackman and Lou & Peter Berryman; be entertained by 14 top-notch official showcase artists and 13 Midwest Radio Presents showcase artists; get a little exercise trying to catch a song from 52 Performance Lane acts; and wish they could be in 10 places at once for all the Private Showcase rooms. Not to mention the wonderful spontaneous jams & song circles that broke out in the lobby.
If you missed it this year, don’t worry. We’re already making plans for an even better gathering next year when we’ll be moving to St. Louis, MO.
Mark your calendars now for October 11 – 14, 2012!
History and the Future
Less the 6 months from now, music professionals from all over the Midwest and beyond will be gathering in Bolingbrook, IL for our what we now believe will be the 19th Annual FARM Gathering. It all depends on when we start officially counting, but from what we’ve been able to determine through conversation with those who were around back then, the first official gathering occurred in November 1992.
The Midwest Regional Folk Alliance conference has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past several years thanks to all of our diehard regulars and the word of mouth excitement we’ve been generating. However, none of this happens over night and we’ve been remiss in shining a light on all of those involved in creating and growing this wonderful community – starting way back at the beginning. Visit our History page to read recollections from our past board members and organizers of the very first FARM Gatherings.
Stay tuned to our website and join our mailing list to stay on top of the latest updates and important information about FARM 2011.
2010 Gathering Recap
Where to begin…
The number of FARMers who helped nurture our Midwestern gathering is so many and before too much time has passed we wanted to express our blissful gratitude to you all and spotlight a few who were essential to making this conference happen.
First and foremost, we’d like to once again acknowledge this year’s patrons. In addition to the generosity of our perennial donors, we had several new sponsors this year. Our deepest gratitude to silver level sponsors – Wheatland Music Org and LilFest (who underwrote the printing of our programs); to Blissfest Organization at the bronze level and the following Friends of FARM – Stained Glass Coffeehouse, WDCB, WNUR, West Bethesda House Concerts, Chicago Songwriter’s Collective, Madison Songwriters Guild, The Ark, Ten Pound Fiddle, Maple Street Chapel, Two Way Street Coffeehouse, Andina & Rich, Andina & Irabagon, Inside Out Recording Studio and a3radio.com who also once again recorded the main stage showcases for rebroadcast (more on this later). Continue reading
2009 Gathering
We had an outstanding FARM Gathering in October. Our best attendance yet at our first 3-day conference held in Bolingbrook, IL. We hope to be posting some photos soon and watch for the audio clip of Claudia Schmidt’s amazing Key Note speech.
We have a new Board of Directors who are all motivated and excited to serve the FARM community.
Our 2010 Gathering will be held on Oct 7-10 at the same location. Stay tuned for more information on how to register, submit for showcase and volunteer.