The Acadia Festival of Traditional Music and Dance

Home
United States
Ellsworth, ME
The Acadia Festival of Traditional Music and Dance

Dedicated to celebrating Celtic-influenced music and dance through classes, workshops and concerts.

For centuries, Downeast Maine has flourished as a crossroads for many styles of music and dance: Acadian, Cape Breton, Irish, Scottish and Quebecois – just to name a few. The Acadia Festival of Traditional Music and Dance is dedicated to promoting education and appreciation of these traditions through an annual celebration held June 26-July 2, 2023 at the beautiful oceanfront campus of College of

the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. Since 2013, Acadia Trad has brought world-class performers, students and the public together for awe-inspiring nightly concerts and dances, as well as daily classes and workshops. Our flagship program, Acadia Trad School, is a weeklong intensive program offering unparalleled instruction in fiddle, dance, piano, guitar, flute and other disciplines. Students of all ability levels and a wide range of ages (adults and children 12 years and up) are welcome. Full-time students spend the week in intensive studies, jam sessions and fun. A wide selection of afternoon workshops, dances and concerts are open to the public. Instrumental classes are taught in the aural tradition, with an emphasis on learning by ear. Shortly after the former Acadia Trad School 501(c)(3) disbanded in 2020, a dedicated group of volunteers began working to give new life to a reimagined festival in time for summer 2023. Explore acadiatradfestival.org to learn more about our mission and history, how to register for Trad School or purchase concert tickets, and ways you can support Acadia Trad.

12/27/2024

Thank you for being part of this journey with us. Together, we’re amplifying the tunes, steps, voices, stories, and songs that connect us all. 💛 If you haven't already, please consider a tax deductible donation to our 2025 Scholarship, Artistic Work Study & Artists in Residence Programs before this year ends. Here's Lorien Cockman with her story of receiving a scholarship last summer, and on her first time attending AFTMD. 🥳 May your last days of this year be full of peace and small joys! 🕯 https://acadiatradfestival.org/donate/

12/23/2024

It wouldn't be Acadia Trad without the magical sound of the Harp beside the ocean. And by we couldn't be happier Mairi Chaimbeul is back by popular demand for . Class space is quite limited, so be sure to register soon!

A brilliant tradition-bearer, Màiri is a JUNO-nominated harp player, teacher and composer from the Isle of Skye in Scotland. A native Gaelic speaker, Màiri is known for their versatile sound, rooted in language and tradition, combined with a distinctive improvising voice and expressive rhythmic approach. Learn more and register to join us: https://acadiatradfestival.org/

12/22/2024

This holiday season, the best gift you can give us is an investment in our future. 🎁As we wrap up 2024 and look forward to 2025, we are asking our trad community to make a tax deductible contribution - any amount at all - to help us celebrate this journey we’re on together. 💝 https://acadiatradfestival.org/donate/

12/20/2024

Friends, we thank you for your incredible generosity! Let’s keep the momentum going and reach our goal of of raising $8000 to fund our 2025 Scholarship, Artistic Work Study & Artists in Residence Programs! Here's Janina O'Brien with her delightful story of attending Acadia Trad and receiving a scholarship in 2024. 🎹One-time or recurring gifts of any size make a huge impact and are tax deductible. Thank you for being part of this journey with us! 🙏 https://acadiatradfestival.org/donate/

12/17/2024

Rosin up that bow... is a Fiddler's paradise! 🎻 What could be better than spending your mornings beside the ocean learning from top-notch tradition-bearers including Pascal Gemme (Québécois), Caitlin Warbelow (Irish), Erynn Marshall (Old-Time), Devon Léger (Acadian) and Mari Black (Cape Breton)?

Or if you're new to the Fiddle, immerse yourself in our "from the ground up" class with PEI's own Anastasia DesRoches. We can't wait for you to join us and be inspired by this amazing fiddle lineup! 😍 Learn more and register to join us: https://acadiatradfestival.org/

12/13/2024

Thank you, thank you, thank you! 🙏 We are over half way to reaching our goal of raising $8000 in this fundraising campaign for our 2025 Scholarship, Artistic Work Study & Artists in Residence Programs! 😍 Here is Liz Hewitt, one of our 2024 Scholarship Recipients to tell you in her own words what an impact your gift can have on a future participant. 👉 https://acadiatradfestival.org/donate/ All donations are tax deductible. 💵 Our scholarship applications remain open and are available to students at any age and with any amount of experience in their discipline. https://acadiatradfestival.org/apply-for-a-scholarship/ 🙋

12/10/2024

Are you as excited as we are for the Guitar Program? 🤩 Choose to spend your mornings rotating between & Isa Burke for a full-immersion experience in trad guitar, or if you're a new guitarist, dive into our "from the ground" up class with Dan Faiella. We can't wait for you to join us and be inspired by this amazing team! 😍 Learn more and register to join us: https://acadiatradfestival.org/

12/08/2024

At you can choose to major in Bodhrán during our morning intensive classes! ⭐ We are thrilled to have lead our program. Cara is a highly sought after bodhrán player at the cutting edge of the instrument's modern development. She was the 2021 All-Ireland Fleadh Fest champion and holds two degrees in music education from Texas Christian University, and a Masters in Irish Traditional Music Performance from the University of Limerick in Ireland. 🥳 https://acadiatradfestival.org/class-descriptions/ 🙏 Our 2025 Bodhran program is sponsored by Moira O'Neill and Terry O'Neill. We offer our heartfelt thanks to them for their support and passion for the arts.

12/06/2024

We are pleased to introduce you to another 2024 Scholarship Recipient, Erika O'Shea, to tell you a bit about her experience last summer. 🌄 Our goal is raise $8000 by January 31, to fund our 2025 Scholarship, Artistic Work Study & Artists in Residence Programs. We are so grateful to all of you who have contributed. Every dollar is appreciated, and as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, your donation is tax deductible. 👉 https://acadiatradfestival.org/donate/ Together, we can make a difference in the world through the power of traditional music, dance and community. 🎵

If a scholarship would benefit you or someone you know, please apply! ⭐ https://acadiatradfestival.org/apply-for-a-scholarship/

12/03/2024

Giving Tuesday is here! As we celebrate generosity and purpose today, we humbly request your support in helping us build a future where traditional music continues to unite our community, providing solace during challenging times and fostering a sense of belonging. Every gift you make contributes to our ongoing efforts to connect people through the universal language of music. We kindly ask you to join us in this valuable work by making a tax-deductible donation. https://acadiatradfestival.org/donate/

If you’ve already given recently, we express our gratitude and encourage you to share this information with a friend. Together, we can make a significant impact on the world through the profound artistry and vibrant community of traditional music.

12/01/2024

Pianists, we've got you covered! 🙋 Whether you're looking to spice up your skills, or to enter the world of trad on your chosen instrument for the first time, Susan & Jake are ready to help you on your way. Let your friends know! Browse our website program and faculty pages for more info, and don't delay in registering to join us to study piano at ! 🎹

11/29/2024

Over 130 students have benefited from our scholarship program since its inception. 🎖 Here’s one of those grateful students, Emilio Torres-Roseberry, to share his thoughts with us. We are currently raising funds for our 2025 Scholarship, Artistic Work Study & Artists in Residence Programs. 🙋‍♂️ If you are able to contribute and help us meet our $8000 goal, please know how much it will be appreciated. 👉 https://acadiatradfestival.org/donate/ All donations are tax deductible. 💵 Our scholarship applications remain open and are available to students at any age and with any amount of experience in their discipline. https://acadiatradfestival.org/apply-for-a-scholarship/

11/27/2024

✨ Please join us in welcoming KIERAN JORDAN to our Faculty! 🌟 Kieran will be teaching DANCE. 🎶

Kieran Jordan is an Irish dance performer, teacher, and choreographer based in Boston. Her lyrical and expressive style draws from her background in contemporary dance, somatic movement practices, and more than 40 years of immersion in traditional Irish music and dance. Regarded as “one of America’s premier dancers and instructors” (Irish Echo), she is known especially for her creative contributions in sean-nós and old-style step dancing. In Boston, she has fostered a vibrant non-competitive dance community through her company, Kieran Jordan Dance, which has been active in the region for more than two decades.

Winner of two Massachusetts Artist Fellowships, Kieran holds an M.A. from the University of Limerick, a B.A. from Boston College, and the TCRG certification for teaching Irish dance. She has taught on the Irish Studies faculty at Boston College, and at festivals including the Willie Clancy Summer School, Catskills Irish Arts Week, Augusta Heritage Center, and more — and she is the Dance Director for the Acadia Festival of Traditional Music and Dance in Maine.

With a deepening focus at the intersections of dance, movement, and healing arts, Kieran is Board Certified in Polarity Therapy, with a private practice in Dorchester, Massachusetts and Kennebunk, Maine.

11/24/2024

✨ Please join us in welcoming JAKE CHARRON to our Faculty! 🌟 Jake will be teaching PIANO. 🎹

Jake Charron has been busy the past 10 years writing music and touring the world with Juno award-winning band The East Pointers. When he is not on the road, he is in the studio, producing and recording music with some of the finest musicians on the scene. As a multi-instrumentalist and collaborator, Jake has released critically acclaimed duo albums with Grammy-nominated fiddle player Liz Carroll, and Canada’s award winning fiddler Shane Cook. Jake is a co-founder of SpaceCamp Studios in Charlottetown, and has been recording and producing new music for The East Pointers (PE), Kinley (PE), Inn Echo (PE), Trials of Cato (UK), Waymzy (ON), Trad Attack (Estonia), and his newly formed group “6 Hearts”, a project featuring members of The East Pointers and Vishten.

11/22/2024

Many thanks to all of you who have supported our 2025 Fundraising Campaign. 👏 We are steadily climbing towards our goal of raising $8000. 💪 Here’s Claudia Castro, one of our 2024 scholarship recipients with her thoughts on the program and festival. 💃 Please consider supporting next summer’s Scholarship, Artistic Work Study & Artists in Residence Programs by making a tax deductible donation if you are inspired to. https://acadiatradfestival.org/donate/ 🫶

If a scholarship would benefit you or someone you know, please apply! https://acadiatradfestival.org/apply-for-a-scholarship/

11/20/2024

🎻 Please join us in welcoming MARI BLACK to our Faculty! 🌟 Mari will be teaching FIDDLE. 🎶

Multistyle violinist & champion fiddler Mari Black's virtuosic fiddling, sparkling stage presence, and commitment to bringing people together through music have made her a favorite with audiences across the country and around the world. A master of diverse musical styles and winner of several major international competitions, Mari sweeps her audiences away on a spirited musical adventure featuring dance music from around the globe: Celtic, American, & Canadian fiddling, jazz, klezmer, and more!

11/17/2024

🎶 Please join us in welcoming ISA BURKE to our Faculty! 🌟 Isa will be teaching GUITAR.⚡

Isa Burke is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and producer. Whether singing harmony vocals, playing traditional fiddle tunes, or crafting spiky yet atmospheric electric guitar sounds, she brings a voracious musical appetite and a spirit of collaboration to a vast array of projects. Raised in a musical family in Maine, Isa soon found her way to Boston, where she studied fiddle and songwriting at Berklee College of Music and dove headfirst into the area's thriving music scene. In 2014 she co-founded the indie-folk band Lula Wiles, which released three albums on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and toured internationally until 2021. Isa has spent recent years building a reputation as a versatile and in-demand collaborator, a musical Swiss Army knife at home in many styles and contexts. She was a member of Aoife O'Donovan's touring band from 2021 to 2023 (earning a nomination for Instrumentalist of the Year at the 2023 Americana Music Awards), and recently became the newest touring member of cult-favorite indie band the Mountain Goats. She has toured and recorded with many other artists including Lindsay Lou, Jake Blount, Darlingside, Mipso, Rosier, Laura Cortese, Session Americana, Sam Moss, and Liv Greene (whose debut album Isa produced). Isa is also an experienced and devoted music educator, and a longtime fiddle camper.

11/15/2024

🧑‍🎓 Scholarships are available to students at any age and with any amount of experience in their discipline. Today, Adam McLean shares what a scholarship meant to him last summer. 🤍 We hope you’ll consider making a tax deductible donation towards our 2025 Fundraising Campaign. Our goal is to raise $8000 to fund next summer’s Scholarship, Artistic Work Study & Artists in Residence Programs. https://acadiatradfestival.org/donate/ Scholarship applications are open to all now through the end of January. https://acadiatradfestival.org/apply-for-a-scholarship/ 🙏

Address

PO Box 723
Ellsworth, ME
04605

Website

http://www.acadiatradfestival.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Acadia Festival of Traditional Music and Dance posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Videos

2024 Scholarship Recipient: Lorien Cockman

2024 Acadia Trad Scholarship Recipient: Janina O'Brien

We are pleased to introduce you to another 2024 Scholarship Recipient, Erika O'Shea, to tell you a bit about her experience last summer. 🌄 Our goal is raise $8000 by January 31, to fund our 2025 Scholarship, Artistic Work Study & Artists in Residence Programs. We are so grateful to all of you who have contributed. Every dollar is appreciated, and as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, your donation is tax deductible. 👉 https://acadiatradfestival.org/donate/ Together, we can make a difference in the world through the power of traditional music, dance and community. 🎵 If a scholarship would benefit you or someone you know, please apply! ⭐ https://acadiatradfestival.org/apply-for-a-scholarship/

2024 Scholarship Recipient: Emilio!

Meet Claudia - a proud 2024 Scholarship Recipient!

Many thanks to all of you who have supported our 2025 Fundraising Campaign. 👏 We are steadily climbing towards our goal of raising $8000. 💪 Here’s Claudia Castro, one of our 2024 scholarship recipients with her thoughts on the program and festival. 💃 Please consider supporting next summer’s Scholarship, Artistic Work Study & Artists in Residence Programs by making a tax deductible donation if you are inspired to. https://acadiatradfestival.org/donate/ 🫶 If a scholarship would benefit you or someone you know, please apply! https://acadiatradfestival.org/apply-for-a-scholarship/

Meet 2024 Scholarship Recipient - Adam McLean!

Meet Alden Gilg, one our 2024 Scholarship Recipients!

We’re one 1️⃣ week into our 2025 Fundraising Campaign! Today we’d like to introduce you to 2024 scholarship recipient, Alden Gilg. Our Scholarship, Artistic Work Study & Artists in Residence Programs are 100% funded by generous donations from you, our Trad Family. 👫 Please consider making a tax deductible donation to help us 📥meet our goal of raising $8000 to fund next summer’s programs. 👉 https://acadiatradfestival.org/donate/ Scholarship applications are open to all now through the end of January. https://acadiatradfestival.org/apply-for-a-scholarship/ 📥

Today we’re kicking off our 2025 Fundraising Campaign! 🙌 Here’s Nora Carroll to tell you what a scholarship meant to her last summer. Have a watch, and please consider making a tax deductible donation to help us meet our goal of raising $8000 to fund next summer’s Scholarship, Artistic Work Study & Artists in Residence Programs. 👉 https://acadiatradfestival.org/donate/ 📥 Scholarship applications are open to all now through the end of January. https://acadiatradfestival.org/apply-for-a-scholarship/ 🎶

New YouTube Playlist!

🎥 While you plan for registration to open on October 1st, you might like to visit our new YouTube playlist 👉 https://bit.ly/4etQ63w with videos about our groups for music or dance classes, about how the programs will flow, our philosophy, and more. This is a playlist we’ll update as time goes on with more helpful information to help you make decisions and prepare for next summer! ☀️

Our closing dance...except it kept going and going into the wee hours!

Our Thursday night faculty concert finale included everyone joining in from their seats. Music and dance filled the auditorium, and joy filled our hearts 🩷

Shortcuts

Thank you for seven incredible years!

Due to a variety of personal, organizational, and logistical factors, the 501(c)3 entity known as the Acadia School of Traditional Music and Arts is formally closed as of August 1, 2020.

Over the past seven years, we have built a community that spans the country and the world. We’ve inspired countless students of all ages to bring traditional music and dance into their lives, and to keep it there. We’ve brought programming to local schools and performance venues, infusing Down East Maine with the traditions we so adore. All of this has been accomplished by a small group of dedicated volunteers, to whom we will be ever grateful.

Music and dance are particularly special art forms, ones that – much like life itself – must be appreciated for their fleeting, momentary nature. Like beautiful Tibetan sand mandalas, they are created slowly and carefully by a community, appreciated for a time, and then brushed away, the individual grains of sand free to become another work of art. We close knowing we have created something powerful, and something beautiful that has touched many, many lives.

We are extremely proud of what we have accomplished, and even prouder that our mission can continue with the support of countless other organizations in Maine and across the globe. To that end, as part of our closure proceedings, all assets of the Acadia Trad School will be transferred to the Maine Traditional Music Association, the parent organization of the legendary Maine Fiddle Camp. We urge you to support their efforts as you have ours.