Folk Alliance International has opened its official showcase applications for the 2026 conference (January 21-25, 2026 in New Orleans, USA.)
Folk Alliance International is the largest and leading non-profit organization for folk music representing the global community of artists, agents, managers, labels, publicists, arts administrators, venues, festivals, and concert series presenters. Founded in 1989 in Malibu, CA, FAI is committed to serving, strengthening, and engaging the folk music community through preservation, presentation, and promotion and produces the world’s largest annual folk music conference as well as the International Folk Music Awards, the Ethno USA gathering, year-round professional development webinars, the Folk DJ Chart, and Global Summits that connect professionals around the folk music world. FAI defines folk broadly as “the music of the people” and supports a diverse array of sub-genres including Appalachian, Americana, Blues, Bluegrass, Celtic, Cajun, Global Roots, Hip-Hop, Old-Time, Singer-Songwriter, Spoken Word, Traditional, Zydeco, and various fusions.
The annual Folk Alliance International conference is the leading booking event for the folk music industry (with 2,450+ registrants in 2025). There are approximately 165 official showcase acts curated annually through a juried process from a large and competitive pool of applications.
