Tisdel steers Sisters Folk Festival

Brad Tisdel's name pops up all over the roots music scene in Sisters.

He is the founder and director of the Americana Project, a music education program in Sisters Middle and High Schools. He has been the artistic director of the Sisters Folk Festival for several years, runs a successful business called Creative Educational Resources, and regularly croons his original tunes to appreciative audiences around town and across Oregon.

This unique set of talents, and his passion for all of them, makes him the ideal Executive Director of the Sisters Folk Festival (SFF).

The festival has grown in scope and scale, and outgrew an all-volunteer work crew long ago. The organization has had paid staff for several years, in addition to an enthusiastic cadre of volunteers, and putting Tisdel in the driver's seat keeps everyone connected.

The position is a new one, and according to Jim Cornelius, chairman of the SFF board of directors, it was designed with Tisdel in mind. He created many of the programs that make up the festival.

"The festival is not just a three-day party in September," said Cornelius.

It's a non-profit that is responsible for a year-round collection of events centered on the arts and Americana music: The Americana Project in the schools; My Own Two Hands (a community-themed arts fund-raiser for the Americana Project); a Winter Concert Series; the Americana Song Academy; the Sisters Folk Arts Circle; and most recently, a pilot project called Musical Memories, comprise the Sisters Folk Festival calendar.

Tisdel understands the myriad things that make the September concerts such a successful music event. Being a performer himself, he knows what a musical artist requires both on and off stage. He and his staff effectively connect the artists with the community. His role as an educator gives him perspective on the workshops and song academy, and enables several of the visiting musicians to access the students in the Americana Project in the days prior to the September festival.

"The Sisters Folk Festival as an entity is growing and requires constant vigilance to keep the quality," said Tisdel.

The quality is what draws the community to support the festival and keeps visitors returning. That kind of support is critical, said Tisdel, and it's important to him and those he works with that the community values what is on offer.

The passion he feels for his role is shared by the other SFF and Americana Project staff. Together, they are striving to maintain the vibrancy, culture and connection that the SFF musicians sing about.

The Sisters Folk Festival runs September 5-7. For more information visit http://www.sistersfolkfestival.org or call 549-4979.