Peaks Island Retreat
Last month was the first Peaks Island Retreat I helped organize for femme players of Celtic guitar, bouzouki and mandolin. Hopefully there will be many more to come!
A few of us had an amazing time scooting off across Casco Bay over to Portland’s Peaks Island, a popular summer spot that has a small year-round population of lovely folks. Our host Ellen opened up her house to us to have a relaxing three day midweek hang where us gigging musicians could just spend some time together strolling the island, making food and making sweet, plucked string only music.
I have to admit, this wasn't my idea - my friend Owen Marshall had the connection to our host, and wanted to help foster a space where the outnumbered ladies of the fretted world could connect. He just felt it might seem a liiittle weird if the host was a dude, so he pitched it to me and then mostly handled admin! For this first round, we had Marla Fibish (mandolin), Helen Kuhar (guitar), and Frances Cunningham (bouzouki) join.
I was thrilled at any excuse to hang with a bunch of fellow pickers, but it hadn't really hit me how wonderful it'd be until we were there. Momentarily I stressed that we didn't have anything planned, but honestly? Getting to just hang, play tunes, learn from each other, and talk about our experiences was more than enough. Often when we see each other, it's briefly at camps over meals or in passing at festivals where everyone is busy with teaching or performing. Hell, Helen and I live in the same city and I sub at her session, but this was the first time we actually got to hang because, well, we're always playing for/with other people!
Out of the 15ish folks we pitched it to, all are full-time or semi-professional musicians. We hope that in the future as it evolves, it could include younger, newer-to-the-scene folks and serve as a bit of a mentoring experience, too. I don't feel isolated as a woman in the folk scene anymore, but I definitely felt a little alone as a guitar principle at male-dominated Berklee and in some music circles. Having that sense of camaraderie and representation is and continues to be so important, and this was a lovely reminder of that.
If you or anyone you know might be attending in the future, here's more info, and please reach out!
