We have been overwhelmed with submissions from around Montana, the region and the world from an amazing variety of performers wanting to be considered for the 70th National Folk Festival in 2008. Now that the deadline has passed for entries, these submissions will be considered and reviewed and the remaining performers will be announced on our Performers page.

 

The Program Committee will review materials from prospective performers for the National Folk Festival in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

 

All materials received will be logged in, and will receive a preliminary review to assess the quality, authenticity and appropriateness. Qualified submissions will be brought before the programming committee for further consideration. No materials will be returned. Artists will not be contacted unless the festival is interested in pursuing festival performance possibilities. The high standard of excellence to which the National Folk Festival adheres makes the selection of performing artists a highly competitive process.

 

While the deadline has passed for submissions for the 70th National Folk Festival, we will continue to receive, log and consider applications from performing artists wishing to be considered for the 71st and 72nd National Folk Festivals. Interested performers wishing to be considered for upcoming National Folk Festivals in Butte, Montana should submit audio (required), video samples, biographical information, and press materials to:

 

National Folk Festival Programming Committee
c/o Mainstreet Uptown Butte
P.O. Box 696
Butte, Montana 59703

 

The National Folk Festival is what it says it is -- a national festival. The NCTA has organized the festival since 1933 and now gets about 1,100 applications and inquiries from musicians and their agents every year.   Beyond this, it solicits information about outstanding folk artists from state folklorists, ethnomusicologists, and other cultural specialists seriously engaged with grassroots cultures.

NCTA staff are trained in music, history and folklore, have many years of experience in organizing and staging festivals. Most are also musicians (though they do not perform at the festival). This staff attends other festivals and events, and many concerts every year, and does original fieldwork in seeking musicians and crafts people.

Every recording and video and every bio sent to the festival is seen, heard, and carefully considered. Many hundred of hours are invested in this work, and no single person makes the decisions.

Quality and authenticity are the primary selection criteria employed by those who sort the applications and sit on the Programming Committee.  As for authenticity, the festival’s approach to programming focuses on presenting arts passed down through time in families, communities, tribal, ethnic, religious, regional and occupational groups.  We present artists who are firmly rooted in the community from which their music derives, rather than “interpreters” of tradition, such as contemporary singer-songwriters or "revivalist" performance groups, however accomplished they may be. Beyond that, there is an attempt to be inclusive in terms of race, ethnicity, and region.  While the festival strives to include artists that reflect traditions associated with the host community and region, all applicants are held to the same standards.

A festival with just 24 performing groups cannot be fully representative of the vast variety of folk artistry in the nation every year.  On the other hand, over the years, this event has dealt with the regions and cultures of the nation with fairness.

Finally, any event that deals with applications and solicitations from upwards of 1,100 performing groups and selects 24 is certain to decline several hundred very fine groups. Those who organize the festival regret this, and solicit understanding and goodwill from all who choose to involve themselves in this process.

The National Folk Festival strives to present the very finest traditional artists from across the nation.In making its selections, it is guided by the following definition:

 

FOLK & TRADITIONAL ARTS – a definition

The folk and traditional arts are rooted in and reflective of the cultural life of a community. Community members may share a common ethnic heritage, language, religion, occupation, or geographic region. These vital and constantly reinvigorated artistic traditions are shaped by values and standards of excellence that are passed from generation to generation, most often within family and community, through demonstration, conversation, and practice. Genres of artistic activity include, but are not limited to, music, dance, crafts, and oral expression. - National Endowment for the Arts

It is the policy of the National Folk Festival to present an entirely new festival each year, with no repetition of artists.

 

If you have specific questions about being a performer at the National Folk Festival in Butte, contact us by using the link below.

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