For almost fifty years, the Alaska Folk Festival has served as Alaska’s premier folk music event. Established in 1975, the festival is built around a mission of providing events and space to nurture and grow a love of music in the heart of every Alaskan. The festival is free, open to all, and provides a week of concerts, workshops, and dances. The 140+ performance spots are all equal in length (excluding the two guest artist spots) and open to any applicant, with an emphasis on encouraging new performers to share their home-made music with the most generous audience any musician could ask for.
Every year the festival selects one guest artist to bring to the festival. As the only paid performer, the guest artist is selected as a culture bearer, an exceptional musician, and a teacher – someone who can interact and participate in our folk community in a new way. In addition the festival continues to grow and evolve workshop offerings, with a focus on workshops in many different folk music styles and instruments.
For many of us, we use the festival as a life marker, whether it’s the start of a life-long friendship, a passion for music, or in a few cases, wedding anniversaries! We’ve seen children who first performed on the stage as kindergartners, grow into musicians and volunteers, who have then brought their own children to perform at the Alaska Folk Festival. When you choose to give the Alaska Folk Festival a legacy gift, be it through naming AFF in your will or designating the festival as one of your beneficiaries of your 401(k) account, you become an important part of keeping music beating in the heart of Alaska. We take these kinds of gifts very seriously, because in making them, you are treating the Alaska Folk Festival like family, which is the highest honor any organization can receive.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our volunteer Development Coordinator, Erin Heist – legacy@akfolkfest.org
To Donate
Donate by credit card using the link below or make your checks payable to: Juneau Community Foundation, 350 North Franklin Street, Suite 4, Juneau, Alaska 99801. Please call us at 907-523-5450, or email info@juneaucf.org for information on donating stock, wiring funds, establishing a Fund, gifting a portion of a Qualified Charitable Distribution from your IRA, or naming the Juneau Community Foundation in your will as a designated beneficiary.
