This just reported over on the fRoots Forum:-
The South Bank and the Arts Foundation present

A battle for the Arts Foundation Award of £10,000

The contest for the first ever Arts Foundation Award for Folk Music reaches its penultimate phase at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on January 14th. The Contenders are four of the UK's finest folk musicians who have been short listed for the prestigious Arts Foundation fellowship by a stellar panel of judges comprised of Record and Film producer Joe Boyd, folk legend Shirley Collins and rising folk star Seth Lakeman who said of the forthcoming concert;

"The shortlist concert will be a great representation of the finest musicians within the folk genre. A night not to be missed!"

The four musicians short listed from national nominations are Sam Lee, Anna Massie, Alex Neilson and Emily Portman. Playing with their respective bands the night will celebrate the rich diversity and dynamism of the contemporary folk scene today – an unrepeatable night not to be missed! See below for details of the performers.

The concert is supported by the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) whose origins in supporting folk heritage goes back more than a 100 years.

Panellist Joe Boyd says :
"It's great that the Arts Foundation is recognizing the importance of Folk Music in this way. The "F Word" is beginning to lose its square image and this will help in that process. I was knocked out by the quality and vibrancy of the young applicants. British Folk music has a future as well as a past."

Panelist Shirley Collins says :
"This award will make a significant difference for one person and will enable them to develop work that will have a major impact on the folk scene. It is wonderful that folk music is being recognised with an award of this magnitude".

The Arts Foundation is an independent trust dedicated to supporting the individual artist and buying time for them to create. Celebrating 20 years in existence in 2011, the charity has given over £1.4 million to emerging artists over the spectrum of fine and performing arts, crafts, film, design and literature.

Friday 14 January, 7.30pm
Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank Centre, London SE1 8XX
Tickets: £10 / Conc; 50% off (limited concessions)
Booking: 0844 875 0073 / www.southbankcentre.co.uk

www.artsfoundation.co.uk

Anna Massie
A talented multi-instrumentalist, Anna's expertise lies in playing the fiddle, mandolin, tenor banjo and guitar. Her nomination in 2005 for Best Instrumentalist at the Trad Music Awards brought recognition to her unique rhythmic style and dexterity at flatpicking tunes. Coming from a musical family Anna was surrounded by folk music from an early age and joined her first ceilidh band at 13. In 2003 she recorded her first solo album and formed the Anna Massie band a trio featuring the impressive guitar and vocal talents of Jenn Butterworth and the outstanding accordion and border pipe playing of Mairearad Green. They won the Best Band at the Scots Trad Music Awards in 2006 and toured internationally seeing their careers go from strength to strength. An outstanding instrumentalist Anna has toured with many artists including Kate Rusby and is a regular member of the Karen Matheson Band.

Alex Neilson
The already legendary free-drummer Alex Neilson has played with most of the musical underground's heavyweights of this era. This one-man folk renaissance movement has left a trail of recordings and thrilling live shows with Jandek, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Heather Leigh, Alasdair Roberts, and Richard Youngs in his youthful wake. His initial interest in improvised music as well as folk led him to initiate projects which synthesised the two drawing on the trove of British traditional music and 'transplanting it to a setting that was natural to me growing up in the 21st century.' In 2008 he formed his own band Trembling Bells, recording two albums which received critical recognition from the likes of Mojo and Uncut magazine and a recommendation for the Mercury Music Prize. Using folk songs as inspiration he extrapolates his own song ideas adding a quasi-mythical dimension to it thereby attempting to describe and celebrate the very land the original tunes sprang from.

Sam Lee
Sam is a singer, promoter, teacher, researcher and confessed die-hard enthusiast of the folk arts. Swapping his many careers to work in folk music, he has become one of the current leading lights of the folk revival taking traditional song into a new direction and onto new platforms. Sam performs solo or with his band 'The Gillie Boys' who create a radical yet melodic new passage for folk song for the contemporary audience. From 2006 to 2009 Sam was 'adopted' by the late Stanley Robertson, Aberdeen Traveller, ballad singer, storyteller and novelist, as his musical next of kin or "Keeper of the Lore". He gained an unparalleled insight into traveller musical heritage and is now the sole carrier of a unique repertoire of Scotland's NE ballands and lore which he draws from in his work. In 2009 Sam performed in the Wainwright, McGarrigle Concert at The Royal Albert Hall alongside Martha and Rufus Wainwright. An unrelenting folk promoter to boot his venue The Magpies Nest won Best Folk Club in the 2010 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Emily Portman
Portman is a singer, writer and concertina player based in the North East of England. With a BBC Folk Award nomination for her work with harmony trio the Devil's Interval, Emily is already a rising star on the UK folk scene. After years immersed in traditional songs Emily's return to songwriting has already grabbed attention through her debut album The Glamoury which was released in March this year. The songs explore the dark and magical elements of female voices in folktales and ballads 'allowing them to resonate in the contemporary world' she explains. The album received overwhelming critical acclaim with the Observer hailing it as 'A remarkable and original debut' and Radio 2 proclaiming it 'The raw stuff of the great ballads'. Her vocal talents have attracted the likes of acclaimed songwriter Alasdair Roberts to feature on his most recent album and remaining a fixture in the Waterson: Carthy tours since 2006 and selected album recordings.

I must say that I have mixed feelings about the usefulness of this award. On the one hand, I am delighted that the money is coming to folk performers; on the other hand, I wonder at the fairness of all this money going to one person - after all, they four of them have made a pretty good fist of establishing their names already in the last five years or so and I wonder if the money might he better spent by on an organisation.
Also I would like an information on the following which might help with some of my misgivings:-
* Who drew up the short list and what was the basis for their choice?
* Did Joe Shirley & Seth make the list or who adised them?
* Was there any application process?
* What did "The four musicians short listed from national nominations" entail?
* Is this a one-off award or is it intended to become an annual award?