FRESHGRASS FOUNDATION / FRESHGRASS FESTIVAL
THE OFFICE works with the FreshGrass Foundation to develop projects that advance its mission, which is to preserve, support and create innovative grassroots music, and to help push roots music forward while also embracing and celebrating its past. We curate and co-produce its flagship program, the FreshGrass Bluegrass & Roots Music Festival, held each September at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA (a second edition of the festival, originally scheduled for April 2020 but postponed due to Covid-19, will happen at the Momentary in Bentonville, AK). THE OFFICE also consults with the foundation on its other initiatives, which include publishing No Depression, the quarterly journal of roots music; publishing and streaming Folk Alley, the 24-hour online listening for roots music; and offering a variety of grants, commissions, and awards to roots musicians.
The FreshGrass Bluegrass & Roots Music Festival always features a diverse lineup encompassing the best in acoustic music—from traditional bluegrass legends and iconic trailblazers to global roots masters to indie folk stars. Past performers include Brandi Carlile, Emmylou Harris, Old Crow Medicine Show, the Indigo Girls, the Punch Brothers, Mavis Staples, Greensky Bluegrass, Andrew Bird, Tinariwen, Calexico & Iron and Wine, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Kronos Quartet, Glen Hansard, Rosanne Cash, Bela Fleck, Del McCoury, The Devil Makes Three, Railroad Earth, Altan, The Lone Bellow, Trampled by Turtles, Shovels and Rope, Yonder Mountain Stringband, Lake Street Dive, I'm With Her, Rhiannon Giddens, Flogging Molly, Aoife O’Donovan, Bill Frisell, Valerie June, Sam Bush, Hanggai, David Grisman, Jerry Douglas, Väsen, The Wood Brothers, Sarah Jarosz, The Infamous Stringdusters, Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, and many more.
The festival presents premieres of the foundation’s commissions, including the long-form Composing Commission (Bill Frisell 2016, Sarah Jarosz 2017, Rhiannon Giddens 2018, Kronos Quartet 2019) and the FreshScores, wherein artists create and performing original scores to silent films.
Another key element of the festival is the FreshGrass Award, which celebrates and supports new talent through contest presented in front of festival audiences with cash grants and other prizes going to the winners. Finalists in the band, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, duo, and the No Depression singer-songwriter categories perform for a panel of industry professionals on Saturday and Sunday of the festival, with winners announced on Sunday afternoon. Prizes total $25,000, and grand prize winners receive a performance spot at next year’s festival, recording sessions at Compass Records, and handcrafted instruments from festival sponsors.
The FreshGrass Foundation and THE OFFICE are partners on a range of other initiatives, including Artists at Work, FreshStreams, and many other projects currently in development.
