JOIN US APRIL 10 – 11, 2021 – Performances Online and In-Person!
The Tucson Folk Festival is a FREE and accessible festival celebrating Americana/Folk Music traditions and all the wonderful variations, including American bluegrass, blues, country, jazz, Celtic, zydeco, and various styles of Latin and Mexican music! This annual family-friendly festival is held in some of the most historic sections of Tucson.
Our 36th Annual festival takes place on April 10-11, 2021 in an exciting new way! Saturday and Sunday, the festival features three new stages and venues with a range of ways to enjoy and watch the festival, including three free livestream broadcasts! Our National Headliner is grammy-winning folk singer and bluegrass legend Laurie Lewis & Nina Gerber with a Saturday night 8 PM performance livestreaming to the big screens and live broadcasts straight from California! Our Sunday night local headliners are Western Swing favorites, The Tucsonics, performing live on the Drive-In Stage Sunday at 7:30 PM and broadcasting online and to the MSA Annex. The Ron Pandy Family Show broadcasts live from Centennial Hall Sunday morning at 12:15 PM. All three stages will feature over 75 live performances throughout the weekend! Over 250 volunteers support the success of this free, family-friendly festival.
Our three new venues include:
- Drive-In Stage at Park Place Mall, where no reservation is required and up to 300 cars can view the performances in a spaced out parking spaces just southeast of Park Place Mall (in the lot behind LA Fitness near Wilmot and Broadway). This stage features live performances viewable by car and broadcasting live online. Bring your chairs to enjoy the music outside your car!
- Centennial Hall at the University of Arizona, presented by our Title Sponsors Arizona Arts and Arizona Live! This stage will not have an in-person audience and is viewable online by live broadcast. This stage will also feature a broadcast of our pre-recorded Stefan George Memorial Songwriting Competition on Saturday, pre-recorded festival sets, and a live broadcast of our Young Artist Showcase and Family Show on Sunday at 12:15 PM.
- MSA Annex at the Mercado San Agustin, where up to 94 attendees can view the live performances in spaced out seating pods. Because of limited capacity, reservations are required and can be made online and in-person at any Bookmans store.
Learn more about this year’s festival here:
- Festival Headliners
- Stage Schedule
- Performer Bios
- Festival Stages & Site Information
- Watch the Free Festival Livestream Broadcasts
- Festival Sponsors and Community Partners
- View the Festival Program
- Buy Festival T-Shirts and Merchandise
- Young Artist Showcase
- Songwriting Competition
- Support the Festival
About
Each year since 1986, the festival features multiple stages of acoustic music in traditional, contemporary, and cultural genres to entertain and delight a multi-faceted and diverse audience. The festival annually attracts over 13,000 fans online and in-person, including participants who come from all over Southern Arizona and across the nation. The festival features a featured national and local headliner as well as a family show headliner. Each year, anywhere from 75 to 150 acts perform at the festival, featuring hundreds of acoustic performers. The festival also features the Stefan George Memorial Songwriting Competition, the Roger Mikulas Young Artist Showcase for youth under 18, interactive music workshops, the Ballad Tree open mic for aspiring songwriters, raffles, the Elise Grecco Marketplace for food and craft vendors, festival store and beer gardens. Over 250 volunteers support the success of this festival.
Tucson Kitchen Musicians Association
Tucson Kitchen Musicians Association (TKMA) began as a group of friends gathering regularly on Friday nights for potlucks and jammin’ in the kitchen. Over the years, TKMA has grown into an all-volunteer operated 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (Tax Exempt No. 86-0514808). TKMA was established 1986, to further public awareness and interest in acoustic music and other folk arts by promoting and producing the annual Tucson Folk Festival; one of the oldest FREE folk music festivals in the country! It is very important to us that we offer an inclusive festival experience promoting community accessibility to all! TKMA would like you to know that your support as a sponsor, community partner, advertiser, donor and/or giving of your time as a volunteer enables us to produce and promote current and future Tucson Folk Festivals, and we are very grateful for your support!
Learn More About the Tucson Kitchen Musicians Association
Use of Resources
Tucson Folk Festival partnerships, sponsorships, advertising and donations enable TKMA to produce and promote current and future Tucson Folk Festivals and fundraisers held throughout the year. Opportunities to participate with other organizations in the community promotes reciprocity of resources, and nurtures relationships. And, we value the relationships we’ve built within the Tucson community; strengthened through each year’s Tucson Folk Festival and the various TKMA events held throughout the year. We look forward to enhancing these relationships, as well as, cultivating new ones throughout the year.
TKMA and the Tucson Folk Festival are volunteer-run endeavors relying on the hard work and generous donations of supporters, volunteers, the community and the TKMA Board of Directors and Staff. All proceeds and funds acquired by TKMA are allocated to the promotion and production of the Tucson Folk Festival.
FREE to the public since its beginning in 1986, the Festival is held the first weekend of April, and is one of the loveliest events on the Tucson calendar.
Browse the navigation tabs above to explore our website and learn how YOU can be a part of this dynamic weekend!