In 2019 information was collected through an online survey and at the Folk Music Ontario (FMO) Conference, a Town Hall was held after FMO’s Annual General Meeting to discuss the potential of a merger between Folk Music Ontario and Folk Music Canada (FMC). This discussion was based on the idea of creating a unified national arts organization for the folk community. In the beginning, both Folk Alliance International and the Canadian Folk Music Awards were involved in the meetings and discussions and will continue to be part of the process alongside a number of other organizations and stakeholders.
Based on your feedback from the town hall and online survey, FMO and FMC have formally started the consultation process with Art of Festivals. It was recommended that FMO and FMC merge to become a unified national arts service organization for the folk music sector in Canada. To keep the process moving forward, a change committee composed of Alka Sharma, Amie Therrien, and Cassidy Houston from Folk Music Ontario and Julie Fowler, Karrnnel Sawitsky, and Valerie Denn from Folk Music Canada has been assembled.
In addition to working with the Art of Festivals, we will be reaching out to you, the membership, and the music industry, for feedback and discussion.
We are committed to the principles of inclusion, diversity, equity, and access and will instill a process to include a robust conversation about what a new national organization needs to look like to truly serve our entire Canadian folk community, including those who may not have been part of these organizations in the past.
In the meantime, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to both Executive Directors of each organization. Their contact information is below.
Alka Sharma, Executive Director, Folk Music Ontario asharma@folkmusicontario.ca
Karrnnel Sawitsky, Executive Director, Folk Music Canada folkmusiccan@gmail.com