[FM] Folk Alliance Region West Conference Announced! (Cross Posted)

[Bruce Kaplan]

Good news for Left Coast folks! California based Folk Alliance members
have been meeting to organize a FA Regional West conference, (aka
FAR-West) scheduled for April 3, 4, 5 in 2003. The regional conference
will feature typical Folk Alliance conference activities: educational
sessions, networking opportunities and a variety of showcase
opportunities to see and play music.

The intention of the group is to include Folk-o-philes from around the
entire state of California as well as other western states such as AZ,
OR, NC, UT and WA. Given the diverse cultural blend found in the Western
states, we hope to attract performers from many traditions, as well as
the core FA membership of traditional, celtic, bluegrass and
contemporary folk presenters and performers.

This event will be followed by the international FA conference in San
Diego in February 2004 with the next FAR West regional to be held in the
Bay Area or Northern California in the fall of 2004. We are actively
soliciting the participation of presenters and performers from all
around California and beyond.

Efforts have been aided and supported by Phyllis Barney, Executive
Director of the Folk Alliance, and several board members who are located
in California. We are hoping to recruit sponsors to help defray the cost
of the event.

If you are a performer of presenter interested in the West Coast region,
please save the date and plan on attending. If you are interested in
helping, please contact Bruce Kaplan (brucekaplan@attbi.com) or Mary
Katherine Aldin (mkaldin@aol.com).

FARWEST List Server up and running!
To follow the progress of the event, or discuss issues of interest to
Western members of the Folk community, subscribe to the Folk Alliance
Regional West list by sending a note to majordomo@his.com with the
command subscribe farwest. To send a message to the list, send a
message to farwest@lists.his.com