First Online Old Time Banjo Festival Streams This Weekend

As we all know, in-person old-time music festivals are endangered because of the global coronavirus pandemic. Many events have already been canceled, and I expect many others will follow suit as time goes one. To help fill the gap is the first-ever Online Old Time Banjo Festival, May 2-3, via Facebook, Zoom and YouTube.

Organized by Cathy Fink and Brad Kolodner, the event features a robust schedule of workshops and concerts on Saturday and Sunday. The lineup includes Adam Hurt, Evie Laden, Eden and Lukas Pool, Victor Furtado, Allison de Groot, Chris Coole, Frank Evans, and Frank and Allie Lee.

Banjos workshops will start at noon each day, aimed at all skill levels and featuring a wide variety of topics, such as adding texture, movable chords, learning melodies by ear and many more. The cost for attending a workshop is $25. Preregistration is required. Email bradkolodner@gmail.com with questions. Registrants will receive a private Zoom meeting link after submitting payment.

Concerts will take place 7:30-9:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday and Sunday and will be streamed worldwide via YouTube. Pay what you can ($25 donation suggested). Concerts will be streamed via Kolodner's YouTube page. 

A full schedule of events, as well as registration information is available at the event's Facebook page. For $150, you can get a weekend pass that includes all workshops and concerts.

Cathy Fink recently answered some questions about the Online Old Time Banjo Festival by email. Here is a transcript of our correspondence. 

How did the decision come about to hold the festival online, rather than postponing or cancelling? Was there another event that served as inspiration?

We suspended the annual Mike Seeger Old Time Banjo Festival last year, taking a break. During this quarantine period, it seemed like a good time to create opportunities for both instruction and community building of the old-time banjo lovers. Brad Kolodner has been running wonderful old-time events in the Baltimore area, and his 2nd Annual Old-Time Music Festival there has been postponed to the fall. So we both took an opportunity to pool our resources, communities and efforts to bring together a diverse group of players and create an event we hope old-time banjo players will enjoy and learn from. And of course, we want to create opportunities for the performers/instructors to make some income, but we offer everything on sliding scale in recognition of the reality that many people right now have no income. And some of our participants are purchasing weekend passes that will help make this work. We welcome any sponsors who might want to contribute to this event.

How do you envision the online event taking shape, in terms of scheduling, using technology and interacting with virtual attendees?

We've set up the event to include three separate workshops per day and an evening concert each evening. The workshops will be on Zoom, so registrants will receive a Zoom link to join. The concerts will be on YouTube live, open to the public, but donations are happily accepted. The schedule and details are here and on the Mike Seeger Commemorative Old-Time Banjo Festival Facebook page.


What has been the challenge in organizing an online event vs. in-person?

So far, it's just a slightly different organizing structure, but in general, we are doing the same things we would do for a live event.

How can the Online Old-Time Banjo Festival serve as an example for other events that might be struggling to adjust to current circumstances?

Every online event serves as an example for how this can be done. As we watch and participate in other events, we are trying to take in "best practices" that will make the next event run smoothly. I think the community is also learning that in order for this to be an enjoyable experience, the artists and instructors will need to use good USB mics and cameras. The better it looks and sounds, the more people will enjoy.