Amethyst Kiah has been making waves as a Black artist asserting her place in the world of folk music and reaching beyond it. Parsonsfield and Maggie Rose both use sonic experiments to bring new textures to well-honed songwriting skill. And Pokey LaFarge reaches into the thick American stew of carnival sideshows and revival tents to create modern carnivalesque nightmares. All four performers — and more — are part of CT Folk’s lineup for Folk at the Edge, a new concert series coming to Edgewood Park throughout the summer and early fall.
June 24 features Parsonsfield and Twisted Pine. On July 22 Maggie Rose headlines, supported by Them Vibes and Dylan Hartigan. On Aug. 26 it’s Pokey LaFarge, supported by Goodnight Moonshine. Amethyst Kiah closes out the series on Sept. 25.
The Folk at the Edge series is the result of a necessary pivot by CT Folk, as the organization still felt that its anchor event — the CT Folk Fest and Green Expo, held in past years in Edgerton Park — would be too difficult to stage on Labor Day weekend, given lingering safety and attendance concerns regarding events of that size. But it also represented a chance for CT Folk to move forward quickly in a direction board members had been talking about for years, toward embracing a broader, more inclusive definition of folk music that could attract a wider audience while simultaneously allowing the organization to reach deeper into the community around them.
“The pandemic allowed us to see who our supporters were and the direction we want to go in,” said Nicole Heriot-Mikula, CT Folk’s events director. “It allowed us the time to not be in the middle of chaos, but be still, and to say, ‘]this what works for us and our safety, and our success for this year.’”
Last year’s Folk Fest and Green Expo was, of course, cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In April of this year, with the question of safety still pertinent, but with vaccinations on the rise, the board of CT Folk met to decide what course of action to take for its music programming in 2021. Informing the question was the fact that the “we had seen such growth in 2018 and 2019,” Heriot-Mikula said of recent Folk Fests. Attendance for the event between 2017 and 2019 had doubled, which Heriot-Mikula credited to the organization’s push to expand its sense of what folk music could be connect with the New Haven community more.
“We were thoughtful of recognizing and respecting the audience that we have had for years, as well as then expanding to a new audience by booking bands outside of the ‘traditional folk’ genre and pushing the boundaries of what folk is,” Heriot-Mikula said. “if you ask me, I think folk is just storytelling,” she added; folk can, theoretically, be “everything.” The new perspective meant more diverse booking, and thus, a larger draw. The organization also expanded the Green Expo part of the festival. The final piece of the equation was “just injecting dollars properly in the right marketing,” Heriot-Mikula said.
Heriot-Mikula noted that starting in the past week, large festivals have announced moving forward with plans that remarkably resemble the way festivals were run before the pandemic. But the CT Folk Fest is also not an entirely typical festival. For starters, the event has historically been run on suggested donation, even as it books national-level talent. This model worked in the past because larger numbers meant more donations. Festivals this year, however, may attract smaller than average numbers due to concerns about Covid-19. The board was also naturally concerned about the safety of attendees and the artists.
“We decided what was best for the sustainability of the organization” was to “shift our model,” Heriot-Mikula said, “which is still being dedicated to the community.” She also said that livestreaming “is going to be a part of our programming moving forward,” citing a survey conducted by the New England Regional Folk Alliance that found an overwhelming majority of respondents expecting or hoping that venues would continue to offer livestreaming even after it was possible to attend an event in person.
“They’re used to it,” Heriot-Mikula said, “and it adds a revenue stream beyond geographical boundaries…. Moving forward, our livestreaming is now a budget line item.”
With all of those variables in play, CT Folk “decided to shift to a four-date, ticketed concert series that’s still accessible at four different price points, which is a great way for us to identify what will work — or won’t work — and we hope the community and music lovers welcome that and understand.” Tickets start at $20 for Parsonsfield, $30 for Maggie Rose, $35 for Pokey LaFarge, and $40 for Amethyst Kiah. The move to Edgewood Park from Edgerton Park was part of maintaining that accessibility, “to be in the heart of New Haven.” The concerts will also be on weekdays in the evenings, “because we have so many incredible other venues in the city,” including the newly opened Westville Music Bowl, that are booking shows on the weekend, Heriot-Mikula said. “Our goal was not to compete with those shows. It was to create new opportunities for the community and new audiences,” and “rejuvenate what we’ve been doing.”
Having made the decision to book shows, CT Folk joined the nationwide scrum of booking acts as states reopened and began to allow shows again. Booking agents have been working “around the clock,” Heriot-Mikula said. “It actually was a bit tumultuous…. Musicians right now are at a premium — especially ones that are being managed by larger agencies, if you want them, you will pay for them.”
But now, with the concert series organized, Heriot-Mikula said CT Folk is already looking toward the future. While the Folk at the Edge series this year was designed in place of the Folk Fest and Green Expo — the Edgewood events will have elements of the Green Expo involved — Heriot-Mikula is hopeful that next year, the organization might be able do the Labor Day weekend fest, a concert series, and more. “I would love to have a concert series and a fest, and then I would love to partner with local venues and co-present with them,” she said. A first collaboration is already happening in October with the Bijou Theater in Bridgeport, presenting Annie Sumi. Heriot-Mikula hopes it’s the first of many, with venues around the Elm City.
“Let’s commit to the community that we’re a part of. Let’s be more diverse, let’s be more strategic,” she said. “Our main goal is to stay connected to our mission and be able to serve New Haven and beyond.”
Visit CT Folk’s website for tickets and more information about the Folk at the Edge series.
Moving the concert festival to Edgewood Park will reach a wider audience than Edgerton Park because it is on two bus lines and closer to more neighborhoods, with plenty of parking nearby. But the New Haven Green is at the epicenter of almost all the bus lines and is neutral territory for people who are at risk when they cross into traditionally rival neighborhoods. The way to increase inclusivity and reach more diverse audiences is not only by widening the talent pool of performers, but also to reach the widest diversity of audience members and create access for them to be able to attend by creating easy and safe access to the venue.