With the Peterborough Folk Festival set to return for its 37th year from August 13 to 16, festival organizers are now accepting submissions from established musical artists who want to perform at the 2026 festival and are also accepting applications for the 2026 Emerging Artist of the Year — with a celebratory concert set for Friday (January 23) that will feature three past recipients.
Over 16,000 people attended the festival in 2025, so securing a performance slot is both highly desirable and highly competitive, with the festival receiving almost 1,000 artist submissions last year.
Submission forms to perform at the festival are available at peterboroughfolkfest.com/artist-submission, with separate forms available for local artists in Peterborough and the Kawarthas (including those originally from the region) and artists from outside the region.
As for the 2026 Emerging Artist of the Year, submissions will be accepted until February 20 at peterboroughfolkfest.com/emerging-artist, with the recipient to be announced in June.
Award recipients are given showcase performance spots at the festival and receive a trip to the Folk Music Ontario Conference, where they have the opportunity to interact with many people from the music industry including artistic directors, agents, promoters, and other musicians.
Starting in 2025, the Peterborough Musicians Benevolent Association (PMBA) began supplementing the award with the $1,000 PMBA Lynn Morris Memorial Award and Electric Alchemy Recording Studio began providing the recipient with recording and production of a single.
The Emerging Artist Award is selected by a committee who assess applicants on skill, dedication to a musical career, and artistic merit.
Applicants may be solo artists, groups or bands and must live in Peterborough and the Kawarthas, including Hiawatha, Curve Lake, and Alderville First Nations, and must either be under the age of 30 or otherwise considered emerging (for example, by starting a musical career after pursuing education, work, or family).
The inaugural recipient of the award in 2001 was a 19-year-old Serena Ryder, who has since gone on to achieve international success, releasing eight studio albums and winning seven Juno awards, most recently for her 2021 album The Art of Falling Apart.
Here’s the full list of recipients of the Emerging Artist Award (no award was given in 2020 due to the pandemic):
- 2025 – Jeanne Truax
- 2024 – Calvin Bakelaar (aka VANCAMP)
- 2023 – Irish Millie & Nicholas Campbell
- 2022 – Nathan Truax
- 2021 – Lauryn Macfarlane
- 2019 – Paper Shakers
- 2018 – Hillary Dumoulin
- 2017 – Mary-Kate Edwards
- 2016 – Nick Procyshyn
- 2015 – Evangeline Gentle
- 2014 – The Lonely Parade
- 2013 – Dylan Ireland
- 2012 – Jos Fortin
- 2011 – Melissa Payne
- 2010 – Kate LeDeuce
- 2009 – Missy Knott
- 2008 – Sean Conway
- 2007 – Dave Simard & Kelly McMichael
- 2006 – Drea Nasager
- 2005 – Benj Rowland
- 2004 – Beau Dixon
- 2003 – Jill Staveley
- 2002 – James McKenty
- 2001 – Serena Ryder
Three of the most recent Emerging Artist Award recipients — Jeanne Truax, Calvin Bakelaar, and Irish Millie — will be joined by some special guests to perform at a concert celebrating the legacy and impact of the festival’s Emerging Artist program at 8 p.m. on Friday, January 23 at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in downtown Peterborough.
Tickets for the concert, which cost $44 for assigned cabaret table seating or $34 for regular assigned seating, are still available at markethall.org.
With planning now underway for the 2026 festival, organizers are encouraging community donations to support the festival’s $200,000-plus cost, which includes artist fees, rental of stages and other equipment, artist and volunteer hospitality, production, site and security, and insurance and permits. Donations of $25 or more at peterboroughfolkfest.com/donate include a charitable tax receipt.
