Workshop Stage

5:30PM Heart On or Heart Off your Sleeve

Is music a break from your mental health or a healthy method of addressing it directly? We’ll discuss breakthroughs and triumphs and moments where it all seems to be too much… Or maybe music is simply a break from the trials of day-to-day life. 90 minutes on stage where you step outside of your concerns and get lost in a connection between audience and artist. There are no wrong answers here, just good discussion about what music means, especially at a moment in history where mental health is in the political crosshairs. 

Moderator: Stephen Stanley
Artists: The East Pointers, Status / Non-Status, Geoff Holt, Matt Gunn

1:00PM Don’t Call It a Comeback

When an artist chooses to take an extended break from touring and recording, What is the perception internally and externally and what happens when they choose to come back? Does it add pressure or is it a natural extension of a long game career path?

Moderator: Stephen Stanley

Panelists: Wayne Petti (Cuff The Duke), Tamara Williamson (Torrance), Dylan Menzie, Päter

11:30PM Cross Border Rocking

How do audiences react differently to your music from country to country, and how is touring changing for you at this moment in time given the fraught nature of travel in the US? What are your upcoming plans, and if you have no choice but to avoid the US, how will you make up for this hole in your schedule?

Moderator: Treasa Levasseur
Artists: Reuben & The Bullhorn Singers, The Pairs, Sagen Pearse (Hollowsage), The Barrel Boys

2:00PM Defining Folk or Shunning Labels in 2025
How important is it to you as singers/songwriters to be a part of a labeled movement or genre and does being labeled as such generally help or hinder your music career? And what does the genre folk music mean to you in 2025?

Moderator: Sarah Beatty
Panelists: Basset (Yasmine & Sam) Jami Levebvre (Black Spruce), Braden Lam

3:00PM Your Roots are Showing
Each of these bands has made names for themselves via touring, but each also possess a strong connection to their roots, hometowns and communities. Let’s explore the importance of that in a time where touring can be tricky both financially and logistically. We’ll find out how each of these artists overcomes the difficulties of spending long periods on the road in 2025 and what the moment of coming home means when the tour is done.

Moderator: Jesse Davis
Panelists: Lindy Vopnfjord, Lost Faculty, Casper Skulls