Are you a Friend to Folk Music?

Golden Link has been promoting and supporting Folk Music in the Rochester Area for over 45 years! Show your support by joining as a paid member, or renewing your membership, at one of our new membership levels. Become a FOLK FRIEND or a GOLD PATRON in the knowledge that with your help Golden Link will continue to bring great folk music to the area, promote folk music education, and bring this enduring genre to as wide an audience as possible.

What We Do

As an organization with a mission to promote folk music, we do much more than just hold concerts and singarounds. We schedule workshops to help people hone their skills and learn more about instruments, music techniques and related topics. We partner with other organizations such as the Adirondack Mountain Club to bring music to other venues and audiences. We host Member Showcase concerts and Potpourri concerts to help and encourage some of our talented members in their journey towards more professional venues. And we consolidate acoustic music performances from a broad area around Rochester into our community calendar to give people access to many other options for live music besides our own offerings.

Where the Money Goes

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So, what happens to the money Golden Link collects from memberships, concerts, and the festival? Well, to start with, it doesn't go to salaries. Golden Link runs on 100% volunteer power. All the people on the Sounding Board, people taking tickets, setting up, and providing food services at our events, and people running the sing-arounds, are volunteers. When you see them, take a moment to thank them for their help and their time, and ask what you can do to help out as well! Turtle Hill 2014 Kastner

The money we charge for memberships and events goes directly to pay for our expenses. The event costs are a big part of those expenses, including the performers fees, rent for the venue, food costs, and sometimes the cost of a place for the performers to stay. Many times though, our volunteers offer a place for the performers in their own homes. Our weekend Turtle Hill Folk Festival of course has similar costs, although generally higher due to the higher level, and larger numbers, of performers that we have there. We also have room charges and food expenses for our sing-arounds, Members Showcase and Potpourri concerts, and for our workshops. Beyond the direct event costs, we have expenses for printing and mailing the newsletter, and costs for web hosting, ticketing and membership management services, as well as other items such as insurance, music licensing fees, etc.

How You Can Help

All of these expenses are covered by income from memberships, the events, and donations the club receives. We are always looking to keep our ticket prices to a minimum to allow as many people as possible to enjoy the wonderful music that these talented performers bring to our audience. But we continue to look for ways to bring in better, more nationally known musicians that would appeal to a broader audience. Your help, in the form of a higher membership level will allow us to do that, and to continue to support folk music in the Greater Rochester area.

Click Here to join or renew your membership at any level. Or Click Here to donate.