Kerrville Folk Festival

Annually, the kff Foundation produces: the 18-day Kerrville Folk Festival (kff), the grassy hill new Folk songwriting competition, and a fall event called welcome home Festival (whf). The Foundation also co-produces music camp for teens with the boys & girls club and a concert series, "music at the mansion," with schreiner university. The Kerrville Folk Festival is the Foundation's flagship event. Established in 1972, kff it is among the longest running music Festival in the united states. In 2023, we celebrated the 51st Kerrville Folk Festival. During the 18-day Festival the Foundation hosts the grassy hill new Folk competition in which 950 songwriters from across the country submit two songs they have written. Of those, 24 are selected to compete at the Festival in the grassy hill new Folk contest. Of those, 6 finalists are selected as winners. Winners receive a cash prize and are hosted on a week-long tour in Texas. The festivals feature between 100 and 200 performing songwriters from around the world, a songwriting school, and instrument workshops. The kff Foundation hosted its second welcome home Festival from october 7 - 16, 2022. It was well received by those who attended; however, attendance was low, in part due to competition from other community gatherings in the area. Music camp for teens is a 5-day camp for youth aged 13 - 18. Faculty is comprised of songwriters, musicians and poets that focus on helping students "find their own voice and sound" while integrating lessons that help teens build self-esteem, engage in positive leisure time activities, and develop leadership skills for up to 70 teens, many of whom are from low income and single parent households. Co-sponsored with the boys & girls club (bgc), the Foundation covers the faculty and facility expenses. The bgc covers the food, transportation, and camp counselor expenses. Due to covid, camps were not hosted in 2020 and 2021. Attendance was down; however we know that many teens return as many years as they can, and we lost two years of building attendees. Music at the mansion is a yearlong concert series comprised of six shows each year, each show featuring two performing songwriters. This series is held in partnership with schreiner university, and the shows are hosted on the university campus. 2023 was the 11th year for this series.

Since 2011, except for the years 2020 & 2021 due to covid, the Kerrville Folk Festival Foundation along with the boys & girls clubs has hosted a five-day music camp for teens each year in july. Faculty is comprised of songwriters, musicians and poets that focus on helping students 'find their own voice and sound' while integrating lessons that help teens build self- esteem, engage in positive leisure time activities, and develop leadership skills. The camp is typically attended by 70 teens, many of whom are from low income and single parent households. The camp resumed in 2022 and fewer teens attended in 2022 and 2023. We are working with boys & girls clubs to rebuild our attendance at this event.