Performance Opportunities

Folk Music Society of New York, Inc.
(aka) New York Pinewoods Folk Music Club

The Folk Music Society of NY, Inc is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit, all volunteer organization that has been in continuous operation since 1965

Would you like to be presented in one of our events? We run concerts, weekends, classes, singing parties, and get-togethers, all with an emphasis on traditional folk music of various flavors. Our concerts include a series of five main concerts and a number of smaller events, including house concerts. The house concerts depend upon the availability of members who are able to offer their houses for intimate performances.

About performance opportunities:

Our season runs from September through June. July and August have very limited opportunities for concerts as we find that members of our organization and general audience are away.
As mentioned previously, we are a tradition oriented organization both in content and presentation. We assume that you sing and/or play traditional music or, if you are a singer-songwriter, your material has traditional sound or content.
We present acoustic music.
Each year we present:

better known performers in five main series concerts and occasional special concerts
lesser known performers in a few small venues and house concerts
2 residential weekends (spring and fall) outside of NYC where performers present workshops and give evening concerts.

What should you submit?

An audio recording, preferably of a live performance, for the program committee to consider. If you only have a studio CD you may send it to us, however it may not give us a clear idea of audience reaction/participation. Also, CDs may have additional musicians/singers that would not be performing with you in concert and we prefer to hear what our audiences would hear. A DVD of a live performance, similar to the one you would do for us, is acceptable.
Please don’t ask us to listen to you through a link to your website or someone else’s website. We find that the quality is often poor or inaccessible to the booking folks who need to hear your music. (Links can be so confusing that once we wound up listening to someone else’s songs.)

Timing:

Typically, we book 9-12 months in advance. We may be able to fit you into our schedule with less notice, so do ask, but please understand that it is not generally possible. Note that our newsletter comes out monthly and it is impossible to book anyone unless there is enough time to get the program into the newsletter.
If we decide to offer you an opportunity to perform, it may not even be within 12 months. The Program Committee develops each year’s program based not only on performer availability, but on how all the programs fit together to provide a wide variety of content and types of music for our members. So please be patient.
We cannot promise to contact you if we have decided not to offer you an opportunity to perform, and we cannot return your CDs or other items. If you provide an email address with your materials, we will make every attempt to send you a short email when we receive your materials.

General:

You can get a better idea of our organization by looking at our newsletter and website. Upon request, we will send a free newsletter to you. Our newsletter lists our own events and the events of other organizations and venues around town.
If we cannot book you for an event, but if you are in New York City or near one of our events outside NYC, please feel free to come to any of our events, singing parties as well as concerts. We’d love to meet you.
We will keep your information on file, but feel free to update it as necessary.
Please send your materials to:
FMSNY Program Committee
c/o Heather Wood
444 W 54th Street #7,
New York NY 10019 [USA]
If you need an e-mail contact, you can contact our program chair.