Location: Toronto, Canada

Amy Hale: Folklore and Your Family Tree
In this fun and interactive workshop, participants learned about how the basics of folklore research can help them create vibrant and exciting geneologies for themselves and their families.
Frankie Armstrong: Finding your Voice
A quick introduction to Frankie's approach to singing.
Mary Jane Lamond:Gaelic Song
Participants learned about the importance of language to culture and learned a simple gaelic song.
Eileen Niehouse:DADGAD Guitar
Participants learned the secrets of this alternative guitar tuning loved by Irish musicians from a virtuoso of the technique.
Tess LeBlanc: Ballads
Ballads are the narrative story of the Celtic and many other traditions. Participants learned about them from an expert.
Cari Buziak: Knotwork Construction
Participants learned the basics of this most recognisable form of Celtic art. Cari taught them how to construct simple knots.
Debbie Quigley:Beginners Tin Whistle
Tin whistle is an excellent, inexpensive and simple way to start playing Irish music. This workshop offered a lesson from a master!

Frankie Armstrong:
Extraordinary singer, living at present in Wales, Frankie brought her expertise on ballad and singing traditions "I hold it to be true that part of our essence as human beings is to sing... if we allow ourselves to be robbed of that we are allowing ourselves to be robbed of our full humanity. I don't think that it's an accident that we talk about people 'finding their voice' in that metaphoric and political sense...I think it's important, politically, that each and every one of us say we have the right to our own voice, we have the right to our own musicality, we have the right to express ourselves."

Mary Condren, PhD.:
Mary Condren's work is in the forefront of feminist theory. She explores Celtic mythology and finds new and empowering metaphors for women to live by. "Mary Condren's brilliantly researched account of the decline of female power in Western civilization ("The Serpent and the Goddess") provoked considerable controversy and debate. Exploring uncharted territory, it precipitated an unprecedented amount of research and publication on Celtic religious origins and societal structures. Over a decade later, the book is widely regarded as the pre-eminent book in its field, a classic study of gender, power, and spirituality. "

Margaret Bennett:
Margaret Bennett grew up in Skye and Lewis and she was just leaving her teens when she emigrated to Newfoundland, which she describes as paradise to a folk musician. "She is a folksinger of great sensitivity and versatility, and is undoubtedly one of the major figures of the modern Scottish Revival. There can be few scholars on either side of the Atlantic who succeed in combining such a wide range of skills as Margaret Bennett. Margaret embodies all that is best of the spirit of Scotland." Hamish Henderson

Lydia Ilarion, MA:
While Lydia now lives in Montreal, she is originally from Bulgaria where she did her Fine Arts Degree at Sofia University. This area of Europe is one where Celtic and Thracian tribes came in contact during the Iron Age. Lydia's award winning contemporary art is most recently focused on projects that require extensive research into history and symbols. She is interested in the historical function of art as well as its form.

Ann Catrin Evans
Blacksmith Ann Catrin, originally from Bangor in North Wales, works in forged metal to produce highly finished, often sculptural and decorative objects at her workshop in Caernarfon. One of her most well known pieces is "Love Tokens", a series of exquisite objects reminiscent of the traditional Love Spoons in which she re-interprets the theme in a contemporary manner through the use of a different material. "The scale of each project or commission varies greatly, however balance, proportion and simplicity are the key features in my work. With a boldness in design, the work is either hot forged, fabricated or a combination of the two. My work has a powerful simplicity, showing strength in visual impact, with a purposeful restraint in blacksmithing technique. I am a firm believer of the notion of "form follows function"."

Amy Hale, PhD.:
Anthropologist Amy Hale takes a multi-disciplinary approach to Celtic Studies and focused on Cornwall. She has edited an important anthology of essays concerning Celtic culture: "The primary aim of "New Directions in Celtic Studies" (ed. Amy Hale and Philip Payton) is to focus on contemporary issues and to promote interdisciplinary approaches within the subject. Written by international scholars and practitioners in fields such as folklore, ethnomusicology, art history, religious studies, tourism and education, the book brings together in one volume a wide range of perspectives. It responds to the recent questioning of the viability of the notion of 'Celticity' and the idea of Celtic Studies as a discipline and points to a renewed vitality in the subject. New Directions in Celtic Studies is divided into four sections: popular culture and representation; commodities and Celtic lifestyles; contemporary Celtic identity and the Celtic Diaspora; Celtic praxis."

Eileen Niehouse
Eileen returned for her third Celtic Women International Conference. In demand because of the versatility of her talent as both a solist and accompaniest on the guitar, Eileen was was welcomed for her wonderful sense of humor.

Nolwen Montjaret
Nolwen's returned the CWI conference to present her songs and stories, along with her love and knowledge of her Breton heritage.

featured:
Mary Jane Lamond: East Coast singing sensation
Tess LeBlanc: Acadian Singer, Step Dancer & percussionist
Anne Lederman: eclectic fiddler, singer and composer
Debbie Quigley: uileean piper
Eileen Niehouse and October Browne: Virtuoso guitarists
Margaret Bennett: singer and folklorist
Loretto Ried:Sligo musician
Frankie Armstrong:legendary folksinger

Catered by Norita Fleming:
Norita, conversant in the folklore of food and of Ireland, brought a special quality to the farewell banquet that helped consolidate friendships, experiences and learning that we all brought away from the conference.