CKCU Ottawa Folk Festival

The Ottawa Folk Festival is a major Canadian folk music festival. The organization presents a three-day weekend festival in August (generally two weeks before the Labour Day long weekend), as well as an evening benefit concert series throughout the year.

The festival books both local, national and international talent. It follows a standard format which sees invited artists playing several short sets on various stages throughout the weekend, often grouped onto quadruple or quintuple bills by topics (e.g. "In the Tradition", "East Meets West", etc.); this format allows for interaction and jamming between invited artists (be they established stars or newcomers). Prominent artists also play a set on the evening main stage, with headliners performing th 45 minutes to 1 hour. The festival is slanted toward contemporary and popular folk performers, but some traditional folk artists are invited as well (see "Folk music" for more on this distinction).

In addition to traditional musical performances, the festival generally includes a contra dance, the Terry Penner memorial choir (of audience members), a commercial marketplace area for craft artisans, a CD tent, an international food court, public awareness booths, spoken word performances, events for children, late-night folk jams at a local hotel and many many portable toilets.

Festival headliners over the years have included Rufus Wainwright, Valdy, David Wiffen, Murray McLauchlan, Quartette, Bruce Cockburn, Meryn Cadell, Roy Forbes, Connie Kaldor, Moxy Früvous, Martin Sexton, Vance Gilbert, Jane Siberry, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, Jorane, Jesse Cook, Odetta (well remembered for a powerful acoustic performance from the main stage during a power outage), Kate and Anna McGarrigle, John Prine, Stephen Fearing, Richard Thompson, Buffy Sainte-Marie, La Bottine Souriante, Emmylou Harris, Arlo Guthrie, Natalie MacMaster, Steve Earle, and Ron Sexsmith.

The "Beth Ferguson Award" is presented annually to an Ontario female songwriter under the age of 30 who pens songs of social relevance with an emphasis on social issues. The main award presented is the "Helen Verger Award" for contribution to Canadian folk music (generally presented to a headlining artist).

Festival organization

The festival was established in 1994 by Max Wallace (Station Manager of the community radio station CKCU-FM and the festival's Director for its first two years of operation, 1994 & 1995) and Chris White (a local singer-songwriter) and a large committee of volunteers. First held on Ottawa, Ontario, Canada's Victoria Island, it moved (due to a First Nations occupation of the island) to the facilities of Britannia Park in 1995 where it has remained ever since. The festival was established 15 years after the demise of the "Festival for the Folks" (1976-1979), a previous folk festival in Ottawa.

The festival had cash flow problems in 1996 that almost broke the organization. The festival retains close ties with Arlo Guthrie who performed at the two sold-out benefit concerts in that year that enabled the festival to continue. More recently and controversially, the festival has turned toward the inclusion of non-folk and mainstream artists (such as a 2005 performance by Canadian Idol Kalan Porter) in an effort to boost attendance.

Gene Swimmer was the Festival Director from (1996-2006). He has since retired, succeeded by Tamara Kater in 2007, and the artistic director remains Chris White (1994-). The festival utilizes hundreds of volunteers -- from stage crew to security staff -- and operates a large-scale parking operation during the festival on the grassy areas of nearby parkland to accommodate visitors.

External links

* [http://www.ottawafolk.org/ Ottawa Folk Festival website]