Dear Members and Supporters, 

What is it that the AMA-UK and its members do best? I feel it is that we create and sustain a community of artists, industry and fans to appreciate and grow a vibrant genre of music - live and recorded.

For the past 5 years in January, we have gathered in Hackney, London, and we have learnt, laughed, and maybe cried (I know I have); we have celebrated and, most of all, we have connected. AmericanaFest UK has welcomed visitors from across the UK, EU, USA, Canada and Australia and it is the most joyous of weeks. It sets us up for the year ahead – the festivals, the stages, the tours, the releases….

When we gathered this past January we had no idea that in just a few weeks time, these plans and aspirations for 2020 would be pulled right out from underneath us by a global pandemic. In the past seven months we have all suffered from the effects of lockdown, social distancing and everything that has come with it. We have also learnt, rested, and mourned – but we have adapted and kept on creating, because that is what we do in the sector... We create.

We have deliberated - believe me, our board has met many times - and we have discussed and planned and changed our plans and replanned, each time a new regulation, an ease in lockdown, or a tightening of the rules has happened. We wanted to make sure we did the best possible thing for you, our members. So eventually we had to make a final decision. Now we have… and we could not be more excited for it.

AmericanaFest UK 2021 will go ONLINE and we will STAY CONNECTED. Our community will gather and we will celebrate, discover and appreciate the artists and our community.

• We will have showcases to give artists the opportunity to be seen and heard

• We will host the awards to celebrate our talented artists and performers

• We will hold a charity event to raise much needed money for mental health awareness

• We will have online drop in parties and workshops from guests in the UK and from across the globe

All of this will be over 3 days and evenings and all for one wristband (charity event will be a separate ticket)

But most of all we shall gather and we shall connect and we shall plan because when we can come back to our stages and fields, it’s going to be the biggest party ever and we need to be ready! 

So what happens now? 

• Nominations process opens on Oct 1st  (Click here > for nomination process)

• Voting opens on Nov 17th after the Launch event (read about voting here >)

• Applications to showcase will open soon, so make sure you are receiving member emails. You have to be a member to apply to showcase (JOIN HERE >)

More news will be reaching you on a regular basis over the next few weeks so get involved, encourage others to do so too - the bigger our community, the stronger we are and, when we are strong, we survive  and thrive!

Be Kind, stay safe

Stevie Smith