Join us on February 22, 2023 at 2 pm CT for a virtual version of our 2023 Annual General Meeting (AGM)! Everyone in the community is welcome and encouraged to attend.
If you’re a voting member of FAI, you’ll be receiving an email soon with the agenda, meeting documents, and a Zoom link to join the AGM (with the ability to participate and ask questions).
Non-members are also invited to join! You’ll be able to view the live AGM on our YouTube channel.
Newly Elected and Re-Elected Directors
We’re thrilled to announce the results of our 2022 FAI Board Election! We’ll be welcoming two new members, in addition to the re-election of three current board members. Each director serves a three-year term, beginning at the AGM in February:
Mariah Czap, Co-General Manager at Yep Roc Records, (Durham, NC, USA)
In August of 2020, Mariah Czap was promoted to Co-General Manager and Head of Digital at Yep Roc Records, becoming the label’s first female GM in its 25 year history. Over her 9 years at Yep Roc, Mariah has directed worldwide marketing campaigns for Watchhouse (formerly known as Mandolin Orange), Michaela Anne, Tift Merritt, Robyn Hitchcock, Blitzen Trapper and The Felice Brothers, among others. She currently serves on the A2IM (American Association of Independent Music) Board of Directors and is actively involved with A2IM’s Mentorship Committee. Mariah is also a member of her company’s DEI Committee.
Rosalyn Dennett*, Executive Director at Folk Music Ontario, (Toronto, ON, Canada)
Rosalyn Dennett is the Executive Director of Folk Music Ontario, Canada’s largest arts organization and conference dedicated to Folk music. She established herself on the international music scene as part of the highly-acclaimed quartet Oh My Darling, and her work with Ken Whiteley, Donovan Woods, Fred Penner, Kaia Kater, and many more; performing in 11 countries and recording on over 25 albums. Rosalyn’s passion for the music industry led her to work for MusicOntario, the Canadian Independent Music Association, Canadian Live Music Association, Music Canada, and the Canadian Federation of Musicians, as well as serving on the board of Folk Alliance International, Folk Music Ontario, and AFM Local 1000. In 2016, she founded Stump Media, a boutique label and management company, and in 2020, she co-founded The Arts Hub and Smiths Falls Music, which sees over 150 music students annually. She is a driven community organizer, with a deep understanding of the Folk music ecosystem.
Art Menius, Folk Radio Promoter and DJ, Art Menius Radio, (Rougemont, NC, USA)
Folk Alliance has held a central place in my life since the formation conference. I served on the committee that crafted the bylaws in 1989 and served as the first president (1990). From 1991 to 1996, I was Manager producing the annual conference. I returned to the FAI board from 2007 to 2013. I was the first executive director of IBMA and 2-term board member. I served as ED of Appalshop and The ArtsCenter and associate director of MerleFest. I’ve written about music since 1980s and been a DJ for 15. Today, I operate Art Menius Radio and Mailing Service.
Caroline Randall Williams*, Artist / Author / Scholar, Vanderbilt University, (Nashville, TN, USA)
Caroline Randall Williams is an award-winning poet, novelist, and cookbook author (Soul Food Love) as well as an activist, public intellectual, performance artist, and scholar. Born and raised in Nashville Tennessee where she is deeply connected to the music community she studied at Harvard and Oxford and joined the faculty of Vanderbilt University in 2019 as a Writer-in-Residence in the Department of Medicine, Health, and Society while she continues to work and speak to the places where art, business, and scholarship intersect, moving people closer to their best lives and corporations closer to their ideal identities. Named by Southern Living as “One of the 50 People changing the South,” the Cave Canem fellow has been published and featured in multiple journals, essay collections and news outlets, including The Massachusetts Review, Essence, and the New York Times.
Reid Wick*, Recording Academy, (New Orleans, LA, USA)
Reid Wick serves as the Recording Academy’s New Orleans-based Membership & Industry Relations representative, where his responsibilities include membership, advocacy, creating professional development and networking programs across a five-state region. Wick served Loyola University’s College of Music as marketing communications manager and instructor in Music Industry Studies. He has served on numerous boards and co-owned an indie record label, STR Digital Records, which produced over 25 critically-acclaimed releases. He currently serves on the board of directors of Folk Alliance International. He received the 2018 Cutting Edge Music Conference Lifetime Achievement Award. Wick performs with New Orleans R&B band, Bucktown All-Stars.
*incumbent
Appointments to the Board
The board appointed Beau Bledsoe in May 2022 to complete the term of a retiring board member. The board also appointed Laia Canals Kverneland who will begin her term at the AGM.
Beau Bledsoe*, Artist at Ensemble Iberica, (Kansas City, Missouri, USA)
Beau Bledsoe performs and records classical music, jazz and folkloric music from around the world as he seeks to integrate different musical cultures with diverse audiences. Through his many varied projects and ensembles, Beau has toured extensively throughout Europe, Russia, South America and North America in addition to producing fifteen recordings under his recording label Tzigane. Beau is currently artistic director and founder of Ensemble Iberica which explores the music of Spain, Portugal and other areas of the world connected to the Iberian diaspora.
Laia Canals Kverneland, International Projects Manager at Tempi, (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Laia Canals Kverneland works as International Projects Manager at Tempi, handling the export activities of Danish Roots Music artists and industry, as well as being an advisor in internationalization strategies for artists, companies and governments. Internationalization as a core, diversity as a motto, Laia’s work is behind projects all over the world, from Nordic parnerships to European projects, North America, South America, Australian and Asian initiatives. Aside, Laia participates in several Boards of Directors as The Nordic Folk Council, Nordic Folk Alliance and Lux Boreal Festival.
Tina Wroblewski, Outreach Manager at Small World Music, (Toronto, ON, Canada)
Colombian-born, Toronto-based cultural promoter Tina Wroblewski is the Outreach Manager at Small World Music, responsible for connecting international partners and outbound work around the Global Toronto conference and with Small World Music international projects. She has worked as a tour/booking manager with the Bogota-based record label Tambora Records, and with culture-project managers LOA Productora. She founded “Proyecto Prizmacolor,” a Medellin project working to transform educational spaces through the promotion of art and culture. In 2020, she was one of the coordinators of “Colombia, País de la Música” (#ColombiaCountryOfMusic), the national music-promotion strategy, with Procolombia. In addition to serving as a consultant for a range of conferences and festivals around the world, and one of the leading projects: The Eagle Meets the Condor, a pan-Americas project uniting Indigenous peoples across borders, she was on the jury for the Global Music category of the JUNOs awards 2022
*term extension by appointment
