Flute Quest
Flute Quest is a Pacific Northwest festival celebrating the Native American flute. Flute Quest takes place annually. Flute Quest features the New Breath stage featuring local and out of town performers, workshops, vendors, and musical jam sessions related to the playing and making of the Native American flute, Native American culture, and other indigenous instruments.
Origins
Flute Quest was first conceived by Brent Haines of Woodsounds Flutes late in 2004.[1] Washington Flute Circle[2] was organized at that time in order to organize and promote Flute Quest and be a parent organization for flute circles in Washington State. At the time, Woodsounds Flutes was located in Bothell, and Brent felt that the Pacific Northwest needed its own festival similar to Musical Echoes in Florida or the Potomac Flute Festival in Virginia. Initial legwork on the project revealed to the organizers that timing was too tight to produce a festival for summer of 2005, so the first Flute Quest happened in 2006 at St. Edward State Park in nearby Kenmore.
Flute Quest initially garnered start-up support in the form of a public grant from 4Culture,[3] the cultural outreach arm of King County. With generous public and private supporters, Flute Quest started off with a bang. In their first year they hosted many national and international Native American flute performing artists, including Robert Mirabal[4] and Mary Youngblood.[5]
In September 2006, the inaugural Flute Quest was held at Saint Edward State Park. In August 2007 and September 2008, Flute Quest was graciously hosted by Country Village[6] in Bothell, Washington. From 2009 to 2015, Flute Quest has been held in partnership with Salt Water State Park[7] in Des Moines, Washington. It is scheduled to return there in August, 2016.
The festival today
Today, Flute Quest has evolved into a somewhat more regionally centered music festival, showcasing and celebrating the talents and creativity of Native American flute artists in the Pacific Northwest United States.
References
- Ramirez, Marc (September 15, 2006). "Lure of the Native American flute". seattletimes.nwsource.com. Retrieved August 17, 2008.
- "waflutecircle.com".
- "4culture.org".
- "mirabal.com".
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-08-30. Retrieved 2008-08-18.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "countryvillagebothell.com".
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-04-19. Retrieved 2009-04-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flute Quest. |
- Official website
- Washington Flute Circle official website