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The Alaska Folk Festival is an annual celebration of the music of Alaska, the Northwestern United States, and Canada. It is organized by The Alaska Folk Festival Inc., which is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to the encouragement, support, and perpetuation of music in Alaska. The festival is held in Juneau, Alaska, most commonly in April, lasts for a week and is free to attend. Its functioning is supported solely by volunteers and donations. The organization maintains an extensive web archive of past guest artists, festival programs and poster art.
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The Alaska Folk Festival, which was established in 1975, [1] is a celebration of music by folks. Folk music is an important component, but all types of music are encouraged. Some acts include dance and poetry. 15 minutes is allocated for each act except guest performers. Limits include no overly long setup times, and no use of recorded music.
The Festival has performances from a variety of solo artists and musical groups, and it provides workshops for people interested in the music. There are also dances, jams, singer/songwriter showcases, and other events. Each year work by a different Alaskan artist is featured on posters and merchandise [2] [3] . All events are free to the public, with no auditions for the acts, but they must apply in time.
Performers are not paid, with the exception of one guest artist, one guest dance band and one guest caller who are selected annually to perform for two 45 minute sets, call dances and lead workshops. There are 9 concerts over a week, with about 15 acts at each concert.
All mainstage performances are broadcast live on local public radio (KTOO-FM and KRNN-FM) and online [4] .
Due to COVID-19 restrictions in Juneau, the festival was cancelled in 2020 [5] and held virtually and broadcast live on YouTube in 2021.
The 2025 festival is scheduled for April 7-13 and marks the 50th Anniversary of the community event.
