Kerrville Folk Festival Foundation

02/24/2026

Keep those nominations coming!

🌟 KFF Foundation Board Nominations Are Open FOR ONE MORE WEEK!🌟

The nomination window is now open to help fill five (5) open seats on the Kerrville Folk Festival Foundation Board of Directors.

🗓 February 3 – March 4, 2026
(Closes at 1:59pm CT)

This is a working board, and we’re seeking thoughtful leaders who are ready to roll up their sleeves and help guide the Foundation, our festivals, and related events into the future.

We’re especially looking for experience in:
• Financial management & budgeting
• Fundraising
• Music and/or nonprofit leadership

We also strive for a Board that reflects the full breadth of our community across backgrounds, ages, and lived experiences.

📌 Nominations must be submitted by an active Foundation member.
📌 Self-nominations are not permitted.

To nominate someone, email their name and contact information to:
📧 [email protected]
(no later than 1:59pm CT on March 4)

Eligible nominees will complete an application, with final voting at the Annual Membership Meeting.

For full details, visit:
🔗 https://www.kerrvillefolkfestival.org/board-of-directors/

The future of Kerrville is shaped by the hands that show up. If someone comes to mind, now’s the time. 🎶

02/18/2026

In Loving Memory of Jack Fields

The Kerrville Folk Festival Foundation joins our community in remembering Jack Fields, who passed away last week.

Jack served as President of the Quiet Valley Ranch Board, offering steady leadership, thoughtful counsel, and deep care for the land and the people who gather on it each year. His work often happened behind the scenes, but his impact will be felt for generations to come.

Jack was never much on seeking the spotlight. He preferred the work to the applause. Yet his love for the Festival and this extended family was unmistakable. He believed in what happens here: the music, the friendships, the traditions, and the sense of belonging that brings us back year after year.

We do not have many photographs of Jack, which feels fitting in a way. He was not a limelight kind of man. But his presence was steady and sincere, and we are grateful for the years he gave to Quiet Valley Ranch and to this community.

We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family and loved ones. May his memory be a blessing, and may the Ranch he helped steward continue to echo with song.

02/27/2024

Last call for nominations! The window for submitting KFFF Board of Directors nominations is closing in a few days. We look forward to seeing the wonderful nominees the Foundation Members bring forth for the 2024 ballot.

We would like to take a moment this afternoon to give a round of applause to our KFF Foundation Board members! Thank y’all for representing our community and making sure that our Foundation Members voices are heard, while helping shape the future of the Kerrville Folk Festival!
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We have several seats up for election in this upcoming term, and the Nomination committee is hard at work gathering potential candidates to join the KFF Foundation Board. If you are a Foundation Member, and you’ve got someone in mind that you would like to nominate for an upcoming Board seat, drop an email to [email protected] no later than Feb. 29, 2024. (No self-nominating is permitted)
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The 2024 nominating committee consists of “Bluegrass” Dave Wilmoth, Sami Burk, Chuck Lesniak, Luke Fletcher, Mike Martin, and Samantha Simons
📸

03/13/2023

Dear KFF Foundation Members,

Last month, you received an update on our search efforts for the next Executive Director for our Foundation.

After conducting in-person interviews and debriefs with the Committee, KFF Foundation Board members, and Executive Director, Mary Muse, and Ranch tours with some of the Foundation Staff, February 25th - 27th; the Search Committee convened to consider their recommendation to the KFF Foundation Board.

During a called Board meeting the Search Committee recommended Deb Rouse to the Board for consideration. I am delighted to report that the Board voted unanimously to accept and approve their recommendation.

Deb is a longtime Kerrvert; actually, she has been attending the Festival most of her life. In 2002, her parents Liz and Bruce (RIP) Rouse founded New Folk Camp.

After Bruce unexpectedly passed away in 2005, she, along with her husband Lindsey Lee, joined Liz in hosting New Folk Camp. Over the years, they have built something extraordinary; supporting and nurturing over 250 New Folk Finalist who are the lifeblood of our mission in promoting public appreciation and support for songwriters.

In 2019 Mary Muse conferred the title "New Folk Ambassadors" on Deb and Lindsey. They zealously promote the Kerrville Folk Festival and especially Kerrville's Grassy Hill New Folk Songwriting Competition throughout the music community.

Additionally, she has worked on several behind-the-scenes projects for the festival. For twelve years, she had prepared stage notes on every artist for the festival emcee. She works in the Office the week before and throughout Land Rush, handling numerous tasks, including finalizing the transportation schedule for the artists. And when in 2021, Mary Muse asked Deb and Lindsey to document the vaccination status of all attendees, they said yes without hesitation.

The commitment, passion and love that she puts into all things New Folk and all things KFF will naturally flow into her new role as Executive Director.

Deb will come on board as Incoming Executive Director on April 15, and then when Mary retires on June 30, 2023, Deb's title will change to Executive Director. Both Deb and Mary are delighted to have 65 days, including a festival, to work together.

We ask you to join the Committee, the Board, Mary, and the rest of the Foundation Staff and Volunteer Staff in supporting Deb wholeheartedly as she moves into her role as Executive Director; her success will be our success.

Please join us in offering a resounding, "Welcome Home," to Deb as she shepherds us toward the next fifty years.

Always yours in service and song,

KFF Foundation Search Committee
KFF Foundation Board of Directors

08/27/2022

The talented Dan Grissom has worked his magic for us again with the poster for Welcome Home Fest! We can't wait to see y'all drive through the gate on Friday, October 6th!

05/31/2022

04/22/2022

It takes a lot to pour your heart out on the page… and even more to sing it in front of people… and even more still to submit that work to New Folk. We want to thank all of the amazing artists who submitted their hearts and songs to us this year. We had a record-breaking number of entries from all over the world and it is never easy to narrow it down to these few. Please keep writing and sending us your songs! Love, Kerrville
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04/12/2022

Be sure you share any photos on the original post on the Kerrville Folk Festival page. We can't wait to see your memories and make some new ones soon!

KFF PHOTO CONTEST! Each festival, the Kerrville campground comes alive with music from every corner of every camp! We want to take a stroll down memory lane, and we are hoping you will join us in the weeks leading up to our 50th festival!
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Here’s how it works:
1. Look through your old Kerrville pics and find one that fits the week’s theme. This week’s theme is SONG CIRCLES.
2. Find this post on our FB page and post your best photo(s) fitting the theme in the comments. You must post on the ORIGINAL POST on the KFF page. Reposts on the different group pages don’t count, so be sure you are on the original post.
3. Look through the other photos and “like” your favorites!
4. The photo with the most likes WINS and the person who posted/took the photo will receive a special gift bag from the merch booth this festival! (If you post someone else’s photo, make sure you are willing to share your rewards with the photographer!)
5. If you aren’t able to attend the festival this year, you can still play. Your reward can be picked up and delivered to you by a friend of your choosing.
📸 1Perspective Photography
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03/21/2022

Registration for the KFF Songwriter School is now open! Held in the Kennedy Outdoor Theater, this 4-day experience offers a unique opportunity for writers hoping to take their song-smithing skills to the next level. More information and registration on the KFF website: https://www.kerrvillefolkfestival.org/songwriters-school

02/09/2022

"Bridging Generations" is part of what the Kerrville Folk Festival is all about. Each year, music lovers rejoin their chosen family to sing, and play, and laugh under the starry Texas sky for 18 beautiful days and magical nights. Many of the friends we see each year feel more like our brothers and sisters; our Kerr-parents or our festival sons and daughters; our wild aunties and our crazy uncles!

After 50 years of "celebrating songwriters" together, many of us consider Quiet Valley Ranch our home, and we look forward to making our annual pilgrimage to what has become as much a family reunion as a music festival.

This artwork by Dan Grissom perfectly captures the essence of our beloved Folk Fest and we hope you will join us in celebrating 50 years of beautiful music together this spring!
https://www.kerrvillefolkfestival.org/50th-tickets