The Return of the Live Conference: Reflections
WAA’s AIP Program Manager, Ed Bourgeois, Reflects on his First Folk Alliance International Conference Experience
Ed Bourgeois at FAI, pictured with AIP artist Delbert Anderson.
“Don’t worry, this is the Year of Grace.” That’s what is Folk Alliance International (FAI) Director of Development, Alex Mallett, told me when I arrived — in-person — at the Westin Hotel in Kansas City, site of the 2022 FAI conference, clearly overwhelmed by a full day of travel and how little I knew as a first-time attendee. This was his way of telling me everyone was feeling stressed, but that we would all forgive each other for anything that went wrong, and everyone was doing their best.
It was just what I needed to feel better about jumping back into the live conference scene. We’ve all gotten comfortable with staying close to home and not risking travel, or live performances, and convinced ourselves that the virtual experience and Zoom networking is just as good as the real thing. Who are we kidding?
Turns out, for me at least – and I suspect for the 1,200 who came to KC – I’ve missed people terribly. We are, after all, in a people business, and I was thrilled to be meeting new people and hearing rooms shake with the vibrations of live music.
I was impressed with how responsible participants were — abiding by FAI’s mask mandate (except when singing or sipping) — and the accommodations made: most sessions were pre-recorded or live-streamed, to include those not physically in the room; badge lanyards were color-coded (green for “I’m okay to hug or shake hands”, yellow for “please ask before touching”, red for “back off, Jack!”). Interestingly, they ran out of green lanyards and I overheard an attendee say, “I took a red lanyard, but have been hugging everyone anyway!”
I learned a lot at the FAI conference – my first discipline-specific (music) gathering – such as:
Folk music is not just Peter, Paul & Mary or Pete Seeger singing about whose land it is, it is the music of folx, the people. And I was blown away by all the singer/songwriters at the forefront of social justice activism, out in full force.
Private showcases are not college dorm-room jam sessions, with everyone getting stoned and harmonizing; they are opportunities for artists at all career levels to be heard, to share their work and attract programmers. I hope there were artist engagements secured at FAI, because I witnessed some world-class talent – and that was just in the INDIGENOUS room!
S**t happens, and will keep happening. Guitars were lost by airlines, all the folx from International Indigenous Music Summit had to cancel their travel due to COVID exposure and miss their own showcase. But everyone stepped in – with loaned instruments and fresh MC scripts — and helped each other out.
But mostly, I remembered the magic of the live conference experience: someone knows someone that you should meet, and you might be late to a session because that side conversation leads to a potential collaboration you never would have expected; speaking your vision into the space between us draws partners to the work, the concept, the change; gigs come out of that moment — you were speaking your truth and the listeners’ hair stood up on their necks; that it’s a people business.
Maybe it’s because I recently weaned myself off anti-depressants (not saying this is for everyone; many of us aren’t able to function without them), but I hadn’t been able to cry for the last few years, numbed from the feelings; but coming to FAI, seeing AIP artists represent, meeting new Indigenous musicians, hearing the songs about Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW), sovereignty and strength, feeling all the feels… buckets. Tears of joy, of pride, of community washed over me for four days.
Thank you to all the staff of FAI for your work in bringing us together, and to the artists, for your words and music, and for the grace.
It’s good to be back. Hope to see you in Calgary.
Ed Bourgeois is the Program Manager for WAA’s Advancing Indigenous Performance (AIP) program. Ed attended this year’s is Folk Alliance International with AIP artists Delbert Anderson, Elexa Dawson, Thea Hopkins, and Charly Lowry, who all showcased at the event.