Upcoming Folk Collective Events

2022-'24 Cohort

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  Alastair Moock

  Alastair Moock is an award-winning singer-songwriter; a Grammy-nominated family musician; social justice and Songwriting educator for all ages; and co-founder of The Opening Doors Project, an anti-racist music organization. The Boston Globe calls him "one of the town's best and most adventurous songwriters," and The Washington Post says, "every song is a gem."

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  Almira Ara

  Almira Ara is a singer-songwriter intent on becoming the bridge between rock and r&b. With influences from contemporary r&b artists such as Kehlani and Syd, and rock influences from Willow, Lenny Kravitz, and Nirvana, Almira takes the rarest parts of rock and R&B to wield their sound.

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  Anju

  Anju is a singer, songwriter, producer, and performer shaped by the people and places in Minnesota and Massachusetts. Their music conjures imaginary lovers, scents of citrus, and visions of hairy brown skin under the sun. Anju was highlighted by NPR's All Songs Considered as an outstanding Tiny Desk Contest entrant. They are currently teaching piano, violin, and guitar to young musicians and working on their debut full-length album.

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  Audrey Pearl

  Audrey is an indie/folk songwriter and artist from Jericho, Vermont, with a passion for writing lyrics that foster imagination, empathy, and wonder for the world around us. She's currently based in Boston, MA, pursuing a major in Songwriting and a minor in Global Studies at Berklee College of Music. When she isn't sitting on her bedroom floor with a guitar and pad of paper, you can find her in the kitchen trying out new recipes or going for long walks in the woods.

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  Cliff Notez

  Award-winning multi-digital media artist, musician, organizer & filmmaker Cliff Notez's art is a continuous exploration of the black mind. Rooted in hip-hop, their art tackles the political and the personal, exploring the intimate consequences of a society where black bodies are easily ignored, forgotten, or disregarded. In 2018 they took home Best New Artist at the Boston Music Awards, and in 2020, Cliff became the first musician to be named "Musician of the Year" for Boston Magazine's 100 Most Influential Bostonians. Cliff's Second full-length album, Why The Wild Things Are, was released on September 11th, 2019.

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  Gabriella Simpkins

  Gabriella Simpkins is an award-winning singer-songwriter, composer, and musician hailing from Cape Cod, MA. Informed by her experiences across genres and performance settings, her music exists at the intersections of folk, classical, jazz, and indie rock. While simultaneously independently managing her career, Simpkins currently attends Salem State University in the BA Music program and focuses specifically on classical composition. She regularly performs her singer-songwriter material in and around Boston and hopes to establish herself as a freelance composer in the coming years.

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  Kim Moberg

  Award-winning Tlingit artist Kim Moberg was born in Juneau, Alaska, and currently calls Cape Cod, MA home. Kim began playing guitar at age 14, but severe stage fright kept her from becoming a professional performer. In 2014 Kim set out to overcome her stage fright and wrote her first song. Kim teamed with Grammy-nominated producer Jon Evans to record two albums: "Above Ground" and "Up Around The Bend." Both have received worldwide airplay, charting on the Folk Alliance International Folk DJ charts and the NACC Radio charts. Kim and Jon are collaborating on her third album, which features songs that tie ancient prophecies to our current social environment. Kim's recognitions include the 2021 Rocky Mountain Songwriting Contest Finalist, the 2021 Great American Songwriting Contest Folk/Americana Finalist, and the 2020 CT Folk Grassy Hill Songwriting Competition Winner.

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  Lydia Harrell

  Lydia "LovelySinger" Harrell is one of Boston's musical treasures. Her sultry, soulful voice and evocative songwriting have garnered her the attention and respect of the nation's finest musicians and venues. Jazz and soul are where her heart is; however, Harrell has shown an unbreakable ability to mold herself into any musical situation. Whether performing with the Boston Pops, serenading NBA fans with America's national anthem, or lending her vocal talents to chart-topping deep house singles by British record label Reel People Music, Harrell's dedication to extracting the pure essence of the song is unmatched. In addition to her accomplishments as a musical artist, Lydia is a film/TV, voiceover, and theatre actress.

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  Maxfield Anderson

  Maxfield Anderson is an American roots multi-instrumentalist, teacher, writer, and music director living in Somerville, MA. As an artist, Maxfield aims to bring new light to honored traditions and to share the joy of making music with others.

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  Naomi Westwater

  Naomi Westwater (she/they) is a queer, Black-multiracial singer-songwriter and producer from Massachusetts. They weave in and out of Folk music, flirting with rock and jazz. Naomi holds a Master of Music in Contemporary Performance and Production from Berklee College of Music. She was nominated for a 2021 Boston Music Award for Best Singer-Songwriter. Naomi's 2021 EP Feelings was featured in Under The Radar, WBUR, Vanyaland, WGBH, Allston Pudding, and The Bluegrass Situation.

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  Peter Mulvey

  Milwaukee native Peter Mulvey dove into the deep end of all of this in 1989, on Grafton Street, in Dublin, singing with all the buskers. Those nights ruined him for any other kind of life. From then on out, it was bicycles, poetry, guitars, living humans in an actual room, coffee, more poetry, trains, the Kennedy Center, a cowshed in the West of Ireland, a cave in West Virginia, and every other digression on this, the road to somewhere.

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  Stephanie McKay

  Stephanie Mckay is a recording artist, arts educator and advocate whose work lies at the intersection of music, education and community. Stephanie has toured over 35 countries playing her original music at major festivals, appearing on TV and major radio stations in five continents. Her music fuses soul, folk and is inspired by legends such as Tracy Chapman, Odetta, and Mavis Staples. She is a founder of We Start With Art an arts education and community building organization, whose mission it is to impact children's lives by nurturing their self expression through the arts. Stephanie brings her years of performing experience as an international touring musician into her community work as an artist in Boston. Whether in the classroom or on the stage, Stephanie aspires to deeply connect to people through her art and find meaning across cultural divides.