Festival Performers Selection Criteria
The mission of the Festival is to provide the general public with the opportunity to experience and participate in the traditional folk-arts of music, dance, storytelling, and crafts using workshops, performance, demonstrations, and jam sessions.
The Albuquerque Folk Festival Inc. is an all-volunteer not-for-profit public charity. Its focus is on teaching and on the traditional and contemporary folk-arts of the southwest.
The vast majority of Festival performers are volunteers drawn primarily from the local folk-arts community. They perform, provide workshops and demonstrations, and lead jam sessions. The Festival does, however, book six to 10 paid performers each year for the Villa Hispana Stage and (beginning in 2011) four acts each year to perform on Friday night on the Main Street Stage for which it pays a flat fee.
If you would like to be a performer or host a workshop at our Festival, please read through our general criteria above and the following criteria for each stage and decide which stage(s) might be a good fit. Then email . Let us know which stage(s) you are interested in and why you see your performance as a good fit. All music performances must be acoustic-folk and appropriate to our family-oriented venue. Final selections for the June Festival are typically complete by March 31st each year.
VILLA HISPANA STAGE Criteria:
Villa Hispana Stage performers are selected from a mix of the following criteria:
- Deep roots in the traditional folk-arts of the southwest. One to three of the Villa Hispana Stage performers will be selected on this basis.
- Ability to present one or another of the various folk-arts traditions and to reach various ethnic, economic, and age groups found in contemporary New Mexico and the southwest.
- Ability to draw Festival first-time attendees from a broad demographic within and beyond the local folk-arts community.
- Ability to draw a large audience in the Albuquerque area, publicity hooks that will attract local media attention, and a recognized high level of performance in traditional or contemporary southwest folk-arts. One or more performers will be selected primarily on this basis.
- Willingness and capacity to participate in workshops and performances in the Festival's core offerings. All artists booked by the Festival for the Villa Hispana Stage will be expected to participate in these offerings in addition to performing on the Villa Hispana Stage.
[Examples of performers booked on the this stage include: Robin & Linda Williams from "A Prairie Home Companion"; Jonathan Edwards; Tish Hinojosa; Vassar Clements; Fishtank Ensemble; Boulder Acoustic Society; Black Eagle from Jemez Pueblo; Bayou Seco; and T. O. Combo from the Tohono O'odham Nation.]
MAIN STREET STAGE Criteria:
The Main Street Stage showcases local performers.
- Selection criteria generally follow Villa Hispana Stage criteria 1, 2 & 5 for most Main Street Stage performers.
- Four performers/bands are featured on Friday evening. They will be juried and paid a small honorarium at the same flat rate for all selectees. All five Villa Hispana Stage criteria are applied to these four performers/bands.
- The remaining slots are filled from qualified volunteers and are not compensated by the Festival.
DEMO (Demonstration) STAGE Criteria:
The Demonstration Stage features culturally diverse music and dance. This stage also follows Villa Hispana Stage criteria 1 and/or 2.
Performers on this stage are volunteers and are not compensated by the Festival.
SINGER/SONGWRITER SHOWCASE STAGE Criteria:
Much of the music presented at AFF is "folk" music in the traditional sense Ñ old songs handed down and modified over time. Through the Singer/Songwriter Showcase Stage, AFF recognizes that all traditional songs and folk songs were written by someone once upon a time, and that songwriters today continue the tradition of using music to tell stories, capture events, bring issues to light, etc. This Stage seeks out the best songwriters available and showcases their art. Selection criteria for this Stage include:
- High quality song craft
- Song topics and language appropriate to the family oriented focus of the AFF
- Solo or duo acts who can present 50 minutes of their original songs using primarily acoustic instruments
- Performance ability is important and considered, but songwriting quality is the most important criterion
Performers on this stage are volunteers and are not compensated by the Festival.
SIGN-UP STAGE Criteria:
This is a new stage starting with the 2011 Festival. Specific sign-up criteria, set length, etc. can be found here, but as the name says, this is a stage where folks can sign up at the Festival to play a set on a stage with a sound system and a sound engineer. The stage is right in the heart of the Festival and we're looking forward to this being a very popular event with performers and listeners alike.
Performers on this stage are volunteers and are not compensated by the Festival.
JAM WITH THE BAND Criteria:
Jam with the Band is lead by high-quality bands that jam with Festival goers. Villa Hispana Stage and Main Street Stage bands may be selected to lead some of these sessions.
Performers on this stage are volunteers and are not compensated by the Festival.
Michael Coy, AFF director