Artist and Presenter Endowment Fund

Folk Alliance International was formed in 1989 with a mission to nurture, engage, and empower the international folk music community through education, advocacy, and performance.

Over the last few years, Folk Alliance leadership has been considering new ways to serve the global folk community, reduce the financial burden for artists and attendees, and provide fans–both individuals and corporations–with a means to provide support in ways that directly impact the artistic endeavors of our community.

Each year, FAI selects roughly 160 Official Showcase artists through a competitive juried process. These performers are high-caliber touring acts in the folk community, ranging from emerging talent to established artists who rely on the conference to build and sustain industry relationships. Because FAI is a business conference rather than a ticketed festival, Official Showcase artists have historically covered their own expenses, including registration, travel, and lodging. This investment can be significant, and for some artists the financial burden has created real barriers, sometimes even preventing them from accepting the opportunity despite its prestige.

FAI recognizes the inequity of this system and has created the Official Showcase Artist Scholarship Pilot Program to help address it by funding the registrations of these artists and a portion of their travel expenses.

Our long term goal is to expand the Official Showcase Artist Scholarship Pilot Program into an endowed ongoing initiative and to raise$3.5 million for the endowment. This amount would allow FAI to utilize 5% ($175,000) annually to expand the pilot program and fund artist and presenter attendance at FAI’s annual conference.

In December 2024, FAI received a $100K gift to support the initial artist scholarship program. The donors agreed that $50K would go towards the Official Showcase Artist Scholarship Pilot Program for the 2026 conference, $25K towards 2027 scholarships, and $25K placed in the endowment. Another Folk Alliance International donor agreed to match the first $20K of each donation through mid-August 2026. Our short term goal is to raise $500K by that time.

The program would provide travel support and conference registrations for select Official Showcase artists as well as setting up a Presenter Program bringing in industry professionals who book artists to our annual conference with the expectation that they will commit to booking FAI-affiliated artists and members throughout the year. Here is a proposed annual breakdown of funds:

70% - Select Official Showcase Artists: FAI will provide travel support and complimentary conference registration through an application process. Final recipients would be determined by lottery with specific priorities identified. For example, the recipients should have a similar breakout of the Official Showcase artists (location, gender, age, race, etc.).
20% - Presenter Program: FAI would provide transportation, hotel accommodations, and complimentary conference registration for artistic directors who have a budget to book artists. Presenters would be expected to meet with appropriate Official Showcase artists or their team in addition to watching showcase performances. They would be sent a follow up survey on how many artists they booked from the conference and overall feedback.
10% - Administrative Cost: FAI would hire a contractor to manage the process to ensure we are serving our artists and presenters.

The number of people FAI serves would depend on the donated funds. The 2026 Pilot Program provided a comp registration for each band member (value up to $800) plus cash to support travel costs ($1000 for an individual, plus $200 for each additional band member with a max of $2,000). With $50K, FAI was able to support 28 artists/bands with 77 registrations, along with $35K in cash payments.

The cost for the Presenter Program would equal about $500 for a flight, $800 for four hotel room nights (booked at a discount rate), plus $400 registration cost - about $1,700 for each person.
Generous donors agreed to support a Presenter Pilot Program for our 2027 conference, using $20K to bring in about 12 presenters and also fund a contractor to manage the program’s logistics. In 2027, we are excited to have another $50K to spend on the second year for Artist Scholarships.