Wednesday, May 30, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
7
Folk festival to celebrate youth music
Sisters Folk Festival (SFF)
is celebrating the release of
the 2018 Americana Project
CD, and the completion of
hand-made guitars and uku-
leles through the Americana
Luthier Program.
On Wednesday, June 6, stu-
dents of the Sisters Americana
Project are releasing the pro-
gram’s 15th full-length record,
“The Paths We Take,” with
songs written and recorded
by students of Sisters High
School. The concert is at 7
p.m. at The Belfry in Sisters.
In the Americana Project —
the educational outreach pro-
gram of Sisters Folk Festival
— Sisters High School stu-
dents learn to play guitar,
write songs, perform, and are
introduced to the science and
art of audio engineering. The
recording project is designed
to provide a learning oppor-
tunity for students to record
in a professional studio, learn
as artists from the experience
and to share their work pub-
licly. The students work with
local engineer and producer
Brent Alan while collaborat-
ing with friends and fellow
musicians. The collaborative
nature of music-making has
been nurtured through projects
in class, as well as during the
Americana Song Academy for
Youth, where many of the stu-
dents perform with peer musi-
cians and students from other
schools.
This year ’s recording
showcases 18 original songs.
It features the work of the
Americana Project’s aspiring
young musicians, and will be
a final send-off for senior stu-
dents including Rylee Funk,
Shae Gascon, Lachlan Wood,
Cassidy Ling-Scott, Cole
Pade, Makila Lajko, Rylee
Weber and Engracia Diez.
Diez also provided photogra-
phy and design for the album
artwork.
This year’s CD project was
supported by funding from the
Dottie and Eli Ashley Fund
of the Oregon Community
Foundation.
The Paths We Take features
many younger students as
well, as the program nurtures
and cultivates a safe environ-
ment to be self-expressive and
to create original music.
On Monday, June 11, the
Americana Luthier Program
is celebrating the completion
of student-made guitars and
ukuleles. The showcase will
be held at 6:30 p.m. at Sisters
High School and is free to the
public.
The Luthier Program
is a collaboration between
Sisters Folk Festival, Sisters
School District and Breedlove
Guitars, and supported by
funding from Sisters Folk
Festival. The program, which
was started in 2006 by Jayson
Bowerman and Sisters High
School teacher Tony Cosby,
instructs students in the age-
old craft of building acous-
tic musical instruments. The
guitar-building program is led
by Tony Cosby, the engineer-
ing and woodworking instruc-
tor at Sisters High School;
with engineering integration
from Kerry Bott, SFF board
chair and former Intel engi-
neer. The ukulele program
is led by Bill MacDonald of
Kona Breeze Ukes, with sup-
port from David Perkins. Both
classes have an enthusiastic,
capable and dedicated group
of volunteers.
“They learn many life les-
sons, including patience, per-
severance and resiliency, while
also learning career-related
woodworking skills,” said
Brad Tisdel, creative director
of Sisters Folk Festival and
co-founder of the Americana
Project. “The Americana
Luthier Project is one of two
guitar-building programs in
the country in a public-school
setting, and demonstrates why
arts programming, coupled
with integrated curricu-
lum opportunities, makes
Sisters’ schools special.
And students not only
have a new set of skills,
they have an instrument
they can keep for life.”
Programs like the
Americana Luther Project and
the creation of an annual CD
are made possible through
donations and grants, and
through the community and
artist-supported My Own Two
Hands, the annual fundraiser
for Sisters Folk Festival. To
help support these and other
arts-related learning opportu-
nities in Sisters’ schools, dona-
tions can be made at www.
sistersfolk.org/donate-sff.
Suggested donation for
the CD Release Concert is
$15 adults, $10
students (door sales only –
no advance sales), which
includes this year’s CD.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and
the concert begins at 7 p.m.
The Belfry is located at 302
E. Main Ave. The Americana
Luthier Showcase, which is
free and open to the public,
starts at 6:30 p.m. at Sisters
High School on Monday,
June 11. For information on
all 2018 Sisters Folk Festival
events, visit sistersfolkfest
ival.org or call 541-549-4979.
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