Welcome to the initial organizing efforts for our Maine femme acoustic guitar/bouzouki/mandolin player retreat! We’re envisioning this as a fun, loosely organized midweek away where the lot of us can just gather, make music and connect. Not only are we typically outnumbered in the male-dominated scenes, but we so seldom get to actually hang and play with each other since we’re usually busy gigging with other folks. Thanks for your interest in being a part of this!
Where is this happening?
With the kind offering of Ellen Mahoney's guest house on Peaks Island in Maine, we’ll have five beds (in 4 bedrooms) plus couch space allowing our gathering to be six people, plus maybe a couple more if we can comfortably squeeze in an air mattress or two.
Music feeds the soul and all, but what about actual food?
There is a grocery store on Peaks Island, a couple restaurants and a coffee shop. We don't currently have a budget for covering meals, but we are on the hunt for some funding, and in addition, we will cook some food to have on hand in the house for breakfasts/snacks/etc. Let us know you dietary needs ahead and will make it happen!
Island? How do we get there?!?
Peaks island is accessible by a 15 min ferry out of Portland, ME that runs nearly every hour. To help keep costs down, in-town Portlanders can help with transportation to and from the ferry (to save on parking) and once on the Island, it's a fantastic place for walking and spending time at the seaside.
We know some folks would be traveling from farther away than others. While we can’t cover travel expenses this time, the hope is for this to be an ongoing thing where we get grant funding for future gatherings. So folks further afield, please let us know if you’d like to be kept in the loop even if you can’t make it to this one!
Other activities?
At the moment the only scheduled idea was to do a trip to a luthier or have one visit us to discuss instrument maintenance and basic repair, but we are open to further ideas.
Currently we’re looking at a few different blocks of April dates. Please check the dates that work for you. From there, we’ll choose the dates that work for the largest number of us and schedule it with our generous host.
