2027 Conference Art + Theme Reveal

Scott

McDowell

May 18, 2026

resource

Update

event

FAI 2024

NEWS

Partner

Region

Hands in Solidarity: Introducing the Conference Theme for 2027

Music has always been a collective act: a gathering of voices, stories, and shared experience. Hands in Solidarity invites us to move beyond connection into action. Solidarity is not a fixed idea, but an ongoing process: built through empathy, reflection, joy, and the courage to show up for one another. In Chicago, a city shaped by movement, organizing, and creative exchange, we explore how music communities become systems of support, and how those systems create lasting change. What begins as expression can become action. And what begins as music can become a movement. Hands in Solidarity is an invitation to gather, to listen, to create, and to participate in the work of solidarity — together.

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Lily Joiner's Artist's Statement

With the excitement of bringing FAI 2027 to Chicago, I immediately felt inspired by the idea of creating artwork rooted in zine culture. Chicago has a deep history of independent publishing, underground art, indie comics, and DIY creative communities, making a zine-inspired approach feel especially fitting for this year’s conference.

If you’re unfamiliar, a zine is a self-published, small-circulated booklet, magazine, flyer, etc. that can have any subject matter, but is often made for niche topics or personal thoughts, political views, and feelings. They are not necessarily made for profit, but out of the creator’s passion to share what they believe and love about the world. Zines are very D.I.Y.; they are often made of hand-drawn elements, collage, found materials, and cut-and-paste techniques.

That ethos felt particularly aligned with the folk community: grassroots and open to all, built around expression, storytelling, creativity, and shared connection.

In keeping with the spirit of zine-making, the cut out texts and torn papers are all found materials. They were hand cut and ripped out, then scanned digitally. It made for a really fun and hands-on experience in the creation of the art work.

Though zines can be very found-object oriented, I wanted all of the icons within the artwork to feel intentional and relevant to the message of “Hands in Solidarity” and the location of the conference. The doves and birds are often symbols associated with solidarity, as well as the hands themselves. I chose to include hands spelling out “FOLK” in American Sign Language to make the use of hands feel more meaningful.

The flora shown in the art are native plants to the Chicago area and the state of Illinois. They are also plants with historical relevance to the Council of Three Fires (the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations). I included the 6-pointed stars as a nod to the Chicago flag.

One of the most exciting parts of working within a zine-inspired framework is that the visual language can continue to grow. There is room to keep adding imagery and symbols that reflect both the message of solidarity and the spirit of place.

This art work was a labor of love and thoughtfulness to the theme of “Hands in Solidarity.” It was an act of intentionally scraping together imagery that didn’t originally belong with each other, but came together to make something beautiful and powerful. I think that is what the theme of “Hands in Solidarity” reflects, and what I continue to witness as a part of the folk community.

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