Five new directors will be elected by the membership at the October conference in Mississauga. All members are encouraged to provide nominations of potential candidates by Friday, May 24, 2013 at 5pm. Click here for more information.

Thank you to all who applied for the 19th annual Songs From the Heart songwriting competition. If you applied online by the deadline, of if your entry was sent by mail and postmarked by Friday, May 10, it will be accepted. Over the next several weeks, the jury will be considering the entries and selecting the winning songs. For more information about Songs From the Heart, click here.

Thanks to all who applied for official and family showcases for the 2013 conference, October 17-20 in Mississauga, ON. If you applied online by the deadline, of if your entry was sent by mail and postmarked by Friday, May 17, it will be accepted. Official and family showcasers and alternates will be selected by jury in June, and announcements will be made as soon as possible after that.  Click here for more information.

…to OCFF members only! The members only early bird registration rate – only $200.00 plus HST – is available until May 31, 2013. To take advantage of this exclusive offer, you must be a member in good standing through October 2013. Click here to become a new member, or renew or extend your membership to get this great registration rate.

The 27th Annual OCFF Conference is being held October 17-20, 2013 at the Delta Meadowvale Resort and Conference Centre in Mississauga.

Register online through Ticketpro, or download a form to register by fax or mail (English PDF | French PDF).

The OCFF is sad to note the passing of Tam Kearney, co-founder of the Friends of Fiddler’s Green (2003 EKA recipients), musician, storyteller, and friend to many in our corner of the musical world. Our condolences to his family and his many friends.

The Ontario Council of Folk Festivals (OCFF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Alka Sharma as its new Executive Director.

Alka brings a great depth of organizational experience to the OCFF. Most recently, she was the interim Executive Director of the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, and before that, spent 10 years as Senior Manager, Operations at the Toronto International Film Festival.

She also has experience in community and public radio, knows how to organize and manage large events, and brings both a cheerful energy and financial acumen to the OCFF office.

Alka takes over the reins beginning in April; the board and staff look forward to a smooth transition from the years under the expert guidance of Peter MacDonald, and to a new era in the expanding life of the OCFF.

“I am very excited to start my new position as Executive Director for the OCFF! I look forward to meeting and working with everyone in making the OCFF a stronger and vibrant organization, more than it already is within the Ontario folk community. I wish Peter MacDonald all the best and hope that I can live up to everything that he has put forth for the organization,” said Sharma.

Canadian Music Week – March 19-24, 2013 – Toronto, ON

The OCFF has negotiated a 30% discount on Canadian Music Week 2013 registrations for our members. This rate continues until March 15, 2013. Your OCFF membership must be current to access this rate. Register online, using promo code “CMWOCFF13″ to receive the reduced rate.

Your registration includes access to 3 days of International Music Summit sessions (including the Songwriters’ & Publishers’ Summit, the Live Touring Summit, and the Social Music Tech Summit), exhibits, festival showcases, film festival screenings, Canadian International Comedy Fest performances and a delegate bag.

Canadian Music Week is Canada’s largest and most influential music and media conference and festival. Combining 4 distinct conferences, award shows, a trade exposition, film festival, international marketplace, comedy festival and Canada’s biggest new music festival – Canadian Music Fest – it is a mini global village for artists and industry executives to engage in current issues, gain insights on trends and cutting-edge technologies affecting their marketplace, network and build lasting relationships with tomorrow’s leaders. Canadian Music Week 2013 will feature a Spotlight on Japan/South Korea as well as a focus on Northern Europe’s Nordic Regions whereby CMW delegates will have the opportunity to connect and network with market specialists and gain access to these vast global markets.

Through seminars, debates, keynotes/celebrity interviews, and mentoring sessions, CMW conferences attract more than 3,000 delegates.

The conferences are designed to put you face-to-face with the forward-thinkers who shape the entertainment industries –from sound recording, new media, and broadcast to live touring, film, and technology. Confirmed programming to date includes: a celebrity interview with Ann & Nancy Wilson of Heart; the ever-popular live music makeover with Tom Jackson; and the Music Synch and Consumer Brands Summit featuring leading music supervisors looking to place music in upcoming advertisements, films, and TV productions plus much more to be announced.

The festival spans five nights of performances with more than 900 showcasing artists from 40 countries at 60 live music venues.  For artists, this is a once-in-a-year opportunity to get in front of over 3,000 industry insiders – from A&R reps and music publishers to booking agents, promoters, and talent buyers – 100,000 music fans, and 600 media reps from Canada and all over the world.

A hearty thank you goes out to all of the artists who participated in Art Beat, the OCFF’s community outreach program, at the 2013 Folk Alliance conference.  Ten artists visited long-term care facilities, women’s and men’s shelters and a school in downtown Toronto and shared their music with the appreciative audiences there.  The artists’ participation was voluntary and no fee was charged to any of the organizations that hosted a concert.

The OCFF gets many questions every week about what we do, who we serve and even what the meaning of “folk music” is today! Some of the most common questions come from people who want to get started on something new in their artistic lives or their communities. Three of the most common revolve around showcasing at a conference or festival, putting on a house concert, and starting a festival. Well, we thought it was time to go to some experts in these fields and produce some videos covering the basics.

The OCFF is grateful to the Ontario Arts Council for a project grant that helped us imagine, create and produce these videos. Andy Frank of frankcasting new media produced these videos for the OCFF. We are grateful to him and to the many OCFF members and associates who participated in them: Manitoba Hal Brolund, Nicole Colbeck, Dave Cool, Heather Daley, Paul Loewenberg, Magoo, Jory Nash, Mitch Podolak, Candace Shaw and Carolyn Sutherland. Watch the videos here!

To get a sense of what happens late on Friday and Saturday nights of the conference on the Private Showcase floors, please watch Songwriters Unite!: An OCFF Story, created at the 2011 OCFF conference in Niagara Falls by Jason Romolo, Peter J. Slack and Russell Leon.