ctms folk music fest. moves from .org/

Subject: ctms folk music fest.moves June-->Sept.
From: open mike
Date: 19 May 10 - 01:03 AM

today i got an e-mail about this many-splendored festival in southern
calif. held by the California Traditional Music Society which is usually held on summer solstice. this year it will be on sept.12

http://www.ctmsfolkmusic.org/

1999 thread (17th annual) http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=12701

2000 thread (18th annual)http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=22528

Subject: RE: ctms folk music fest. moves from .org/
From: open mike
Date: 19 May 10 - 01:10 AM

moves from June-->Sept.(is what i thought the title said)

(our local folk music society is participating in a kid's music fest
at our local farmer's market this week, complete with show-and-tell
where 20 instruments in 20 minutes will be demonstrated,and also an
"instrument petting zoo" where kids will have the opportunity to
see and feel instruments up close.)

anyway, here is the text of the e-mail i got about the fest...
it makes it sound so wonderful, I am curious to go there!!

Since 1981 the California Traditional Music Society has hosted an annual folk music festival celebrating music, dance and storytelling scheduled on or near the Summer Solstice. Each year we try to make the coming Summer Solstice Folk Music, Dance and Storytelling Festival better than the last. Click here for important information about the next Festival.
The CTMS Summer Solstice Festival is unlike most other folk music gatherings. In addition to concerts, jam sessions, and story swaps, the CTMS Festival is a "teaching festival". Musicians, dancers, singers and storytellers from all over the world come to share their knowledge and experience. You will find classes on everything from playing fiddle to vocal warm-ups to contra-dancing and more!
The CTMS Solstice Festival was first held in 1980 in Greystone Park at the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. This Tudor-style mansion was built by famed oil-tycoon Edward Doheny in 1928 as a gift to his son and has over 46,000 square feet of living space. The Greystone Mansion provided a wonderful location for the festival for five years.
From 1986 to 1990 the CTMS Solstice Festival was held at the campus of California State University, Northridge (CSUN). Then it moved to the campus of Soka University of America in 1991.
The annual Summer Solstice Festival is the largest teaching-oriented gathering of its kind in the nation. Held in June, it attracts over 5,000 individuals, families, and friends for a weekend of "hands on" workshops where skills, repertoire and technique are taught. In addition there are jam sessions, master classes, performances and over 300 scheduled events.
The audience comes from all over Los Angeles County, the state of California, the United States and Canada. The Festival employs 100 Folk Music artists and has over 350 local volunteers during the weekend. It takes 18 months to plan and execute each Festival, with over 10,000 hours of volunteer labor. It is a massive undertaking, a logistic operation with incredible artistic achievement, known for excellence throughout the world.
Many of the volunteers have been with CTMS for over 20 years, and now their families are included in the volunteer roster. This premier family Folk Music event includes 25 mini-festivals going on concurrently. For those who wish to simply sit and listen, the Festival is filled with three exciting performance stages.
Because of the abysmal cutbacks in public education, the Festival is an opportunity for most children to learn about the Folk Music and songs of America or any other cultures. The Festival is a vehicle for hands-on exposure to multicultural Folk Music and dance available in the region. In 1992, CTMS inaugurated a special children's area that offered youngsters the chance to explore introductory guitar, folk singing and dancing, storytelling and workshops on making instruments from recycled materials. CTMS obtains numerous loaner instruments so that children can touch and try unfamiliar instruments and learn about Folk Music by actually playing. ,,

Subject: RE: ctms folk music fest. moves from .org/
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 19 May 10 - 11:10 AM

The festival hasn't been held for a few years because they lost the venue at Soka University and haven't been able to find a suitable replacement. They did try one year at a hotel conference center. This year's event will be a one-day affair, but, the momentum is on to get back up to the full weekend, as in the past.

CTMS festival page

I only attended once, in 2000, when they brought the Copper family over from England. It was a wonderful event, and the Soka campus was beautiful. (Strangely, in their performer listing, neither the Coppers nor Peggy Seeger appear, though they were there that year.)

Hubby astro and I will be joining the organizers this year.

~ Becky in Long Beach