Feature Guidelines

Are you interested in appearing as a feature? Read on…

Our features are run a little differently than many other folk clubs and coffee houses. First of all, we are entirely non-commercial. That is—we don’t pay our performers, and we generally don’t host professional artists who are touring the area. There are lots of other venues better suited for that, whose main purpose is to develop and promote professional musicians.

Second, we work to reduce the separation between performer and audience. Our focus is on sharing the music, the songs, and the “stage,” with our members and guests.  Therefore, our features tend to be drawn from our membership, past and present—those we’ve haven’t heard for a while on our open stage, or the song circle evenings, who’ve been working hard on their music, and are invited to share an hour or so of their music as a feature. Sometimes they invite others along with them for a tune or a song collaboration, and we’ve heard some wonderful surprises that way. Reducing the division between audience and performer also explains why we are acoustic and unplugged—the technology is usually a distraction from the music.

If you’d like to share your music with us as a feature, or want to suggest someone to us, contact the features coordinator. Of course, when it’s your turn on stage, if you happen to have a CD for sale, you’re welcome to bring copies along, and promote other events where you are playing.

If we don’t pay the performers, where does the money go?

Good question: Among other things, we use the door proceeds and membership fees to rent the hall, maintain the website, buy basic office supplies, and help run our annual retreat—something else that makes us a little different from other folk clubs. Check out our next event.