Earthwork Music Collective
Friday, May. 03 | 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT)
Earthwork Music is a collective steward of community, collaboration, and creativity. For the first time since 2018, Earthwork Music members will be banding together for a special tour across Michigan’s Lower Peninsula performing their songs and telling their stories.
Earthwork Music is a collective steward of community, collaboration, and creativity. For the first time since 2018, Earthwork Music members will be banding together for a special tour across Michigan’s Lower Peninsula performing their songs and telling their stories.
Seth Bernard founded the collective out of his family farm in Lake City in 2001. It was Seth's vision to unite Michigan musicians to support the creation of original music, fusing it alongside cultural and environmental awareness. He also wanted to unite Michigan musicians together to build on the rich, vibrant legacy that local musicians have cultivated over the years.
Earthwork Music Collective members create a wealth of genre-spanning, original music and performances. They also help facilitate a number of community events throughout the year. Their model of collective musicianship has evolved alongside a thriving set of community partnerships.
In August of 2001 as the big record labels were collapsing, Seth Bernard released his first album, “Hello Fellow Travelers” and Earthwork Music was born. It was a small gathering on Earthwork Farm, Seth’s place of origin, with a trailer stage and a local food potluck.
In 2002 this event became the annual Earthwork Harvest Gathering, and moved into the barn. Daniel Kahn produced a tribute to Woody Guthrie featuring an intergenerational cast of Michigan roots musicians, anchored by a crew of 20-somethings dedicated to community and craft. It was then that Earthwork Music truly became a collective.
There are many facets of Earthwork Music that have been celebrated over the past two decades of their existence – youth empowerment projects which have touched the lives of thousands of kids across the state of Michigan and beyond, consistent collaborations with non-profit organizations, collective presence in movements for social change, and the deep treasure trove of records released through the Earthwork label.
What Earthwork Music might be best known for is fostering an exciting, nurturing sense of community and mutual admiration among Michigan’s musicians and music lovers. A community that values collaboration over competition, that recognizes that small is beautiful and that we get to hold our own definition of success. By being creators of culture and builders of community, all of the Earthwork Music Collective members are participating, and all of them are “making it” - musicians and music lovers - side by side.
In 2019, Earthwork Music turned inward to do a deep process of inquiry and metamorphosis. Longtime General Manager, Bill Chesney, stepped down, and honed his focus on Brownlee Press. Things were shifting and it had been years since the Collective had taken the time to do a real assessment of who they are and what they do. This mediated process has led to a re-emergence with newly revised mission, vision, values, and organizational structure. Through this time, their roster has changed, with some Earthworkers migrating out into their next adventures, and friends of the collective nesting in as Earthwork artists.
As an organization, The Earthwork Music Collective uses Consent-Based Decision Making, with a bit of Proposal-Based Decision Making mixed in. They have an LLC for our label-oriented work, and a fiscal sponsorship with Fractured Atlas for their charitable works. Their store and order fulfillment is powered by their longtime partners, Higher Grounds Trading Company, one of Michigan’s first fair trade companies and B Corps, with whom they are ethically and creatively aligned.
They produce a number of annual community events including the Earthwork Music Songwriter Summit For Resilience in January, the Crosshatch/Title Track led Skill Swap in June, the Earthwork Detroit Music Festival in June and the Earthwork Harvest Gathering in September. Additional projects include Sing Me Home Festival, The Long Memory Project, Lamp Light Music Festival, Farm Block Fest, and youth enrichment programs with SEEDS, On Stage 4 Kids, The Gift Of Music, Lost Voices and Music For Sprouts.
RESERVED SEATING DONATION option includes a $25 tax-deductible donation to The Acorn and guarantees you a seat with optimal sightlines. $25 Donation per ticket holder in your group.
