There's a new folk festival starting up in Toronto (Winterfolk) and I'm looking into applying for a showcase with my shiny new band. Like the Newfolk thing described above, they charge 20 or 25 dollars to apply to play for free (well, for a weekend pass and some benefits). However, they also say:

Every Submission received will not only be listened to and evaluated carefully - but all submissions (even those not selected to perform at Winterfolk) will receive a personal written critique from veteran musician, music-journalist, and JUNO award winning producer [name I've heard of]. This is a rare opportunity to get your music evaluated by a successful professional musician - which is worth more than the price of the application fee!

I thought this was interesting - it's like they felt they had to have an audition fee, but felt bad about it, so they thought of something to offer the people not accepted.

Marion