It’s an acronym: Folk Alliance Region – West (coast and beyond). We wanted something pronounceable, like FARM or NERFA or SERFA or SWRFA. “WRFA” was…well, you can see, not great. But FAR-West suits our general demeanor.

We are the slow left hand of Folk Alliance International (FAI). We’re a collective of amazing creative brains who all cram for the test at the last minute, waltz in 3 minutes late, and walk out with an A-minus and a grin.

We are the entire cast of Cat Ballou, including the horse. Fine actor, that horse.

The idea of FAR-West sprang into Bruce Kaplan’s head at the January 19, 2002 Living Tradition concert, when Bruce and Claudia Russell opened for Harvey Reid. At that time, Phyllis Barney, the executive director of FAI, wrote an email to Bruce and Claudia, Howard and Roz Larman, Elaine Weissman, and Steve Dulson, thanking Bruce for suggesting a meeting on this topic, which she and Elaine had also been discussing.

The states comprising our rhttps://youtu.be/cz6fKjtQ1zI?t=4egion (California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, Hawai’i, and Alaska) were once part of the Southwest Region. SWRFA always meets in Texas, geographically very far away from the Pacific Coast states.

The Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, and Northwest Territories were included. Later, we swapped Arizona for Utah so we could keep Susanne Millsaps, a founding member and generous spirit.

The Susanne Millsaps Memorial Coffeehouse is a staple at every FAR-West conference, and yours truly will emcee that event again this year. It’s an in-the-round madhouse, where everyone gets one song in order to allow as many people to perform as possible.

One of the founders’ initial concerns was that FAR-West be truly a regional chapter of Folk Alliance. We wanted to be sure it wasn’t viewed as strictly a Los Angeles-based organization. One other thing that was very important to the Founding Committee was that FAR-West be all-inclusive, supportive, and accepting. We agreed that the term “Folk” should be as broad and diverse as possible.

We decided that our regional conference should move around the whole region, so everyone would be included. FAR-West 2025 will be held in Vancouver, Washington (even better for Canadians!) Today’s board includes members from the entire region – from California to Seattle, British Columbia to Idaho.

But, dearly beloved, we are gathered here today because FAR-West honors those who have made a significant contribution to the Folk arts in the western states as The Best of the West: the Artist Award and the Ambassador Award. We look for people and entities who engage with, promote, and uplift the community.  Examples of previous honorees are Tom Campbell & The Guacamole Fund , The Chambers Brothers, and Wendy Waldman.

This year’s honorees are GRAMMY® winning guitarist Laurence Juber and (drumroll) FolkWorks. How ’bout that?

FAR-West recognizes the importance of being a communication aggregator in the vitality, health and efficacy of the broad Folk community. FolkWorks preserves ritual and tradition, demonstrating that we use whatever resources are available as Folk grows technologically, globally, yet remains what it always was: folks putting their voices together to make a sound. FAR-West is thrilled to shine our spotlight on this wonderful organization.

But what else does FAR-West do? We collect and archive knowledge from our … may I say elders here? A family shares information, and that’s the basis of the FAR-West Teaches videos on YouTube. One of my all-time favorites comes from troubadour Dan Navarro, who shows us how he improved his live-stream presentation over the course of a pandemic and 264 or so live broadcasts from his living room, called Songs from the Coronazone. The phenomenon was so great we made t-shirts of Dan’s living room.

FAR-West is a hub for resources needed in our community. We reach out, politely, quietly. Donations of equipment have been organized so FAR-Westers could improve their ability to live-stream online. The Folk Musicians Relief Fund was established in 2017 with a generous donation from the Sylvia and David Weisz Foundation at the request of Carey Appel and Tracy Albert. After attending their first Folk Alliance conference in 2011, Carey and Tracy realized that many artists who’d once enjoyed full careers found themselves struggling to make ends meet in a new music economy. The FMRF is able to help with living expenses, insurance premiums, prescriptions, utilities and other basic necessities. More information is available on the FAR-West website.

During the Pandemic, FAR-West brought glue to the community and it’s still in play: FAR-West Campfire is a twice-monthly virtual open mic every 2nd and 4th Tuesday. You can join in by registering at found.ee/farwestcampfire – either to play a song, recite spoken word, or just sit and listen. There’s always a theme, and you always have permission to disregard it.

Gail Dreifus hosts New Song Salon every 1st Tuesday of the month. This is an intimate setting among serious songwriters of all skill levels where you can try out new things & get feedback. Space to share your work is limited, but everyone is invited to listen & discuss.

So what happens at the Annual FAR-West Conference? Besides awards, workshops & panels, education and mentoring sessions, it’s more glue and blue tape. It’s a full weekend packed with passion, folk arts, and remembering why we do what we do. Connect with other artists, with promoters & venue owners, DJs, journalists & bloggers, fans & volunteers. You will find support of every shape or angle, which is what we all need. We continue to promote inclusiveness: financial assistance is available, as well as opportunities to support from a distance if you can’t show up.

One of the absolute best things about the FAR-West annual conference is how much it’s not restricted to the Pacific West. Rick Drost has been coming from the East Coast since 2019. We have Tina Ross. Mariachi. WE HAVE CANADIANS. Y’all come over. Bring a hot dish.

Many thanks to Russell Paris, Jeanette Lundgren, and folks who would rather not be mentioned (kidding, sort of.)

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debora Ewing writes, paints, and screams at the stars because the world is still screwed up. She improves what she can with music collaboration, peer-review at Consilience Poetry Journal, or designing books for Igneus Press. Follow @DebsValidation on X and Instagram. Read her self-distractions at FolkWorks.org and JerryJazzMusician.com.