In celebration of Juneteenth, and in partnership with Early Music Access Project, The Front Porch is excited to host Benjamin Hunter for a Fiddle Workshop. This workshop will take place at The Front Porch Downtown, from 2-4pm.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
This workshop will use specific repertoire for the purpose of identifying techniques to loosen up one’s playing. You'll go over three songs, each of which will help us break away from the rigid techniques adopted in western classical music. The focus will be on rhythm, finger technique, and developing your own style of playing, all which will culminate to help you play in a more colloquial style, and feel more comfortable transitioning into improvisatory, jam-based playing. This workshop is for students of all levels. Students will learn rhythmic bow techniques, finger patterns in open and closed positions, and a pathway to develop their own style of playing. You must bring your own Fiddle or Violin.

BIOGRAPHY
Musician | Composer | Educator | Creative & Culture Advocate | Social Entrepreneur
Reality has offered a fertile canvas for violinist, storyteller, educator and community enterpriser Benjamin Hunter’s endeavoring mind. Cross pollinating multiple artistic disciplines for more than a decade, the Seattle based polymath, award winning multi-instrumentalist, composer, creative & culture advocate, social entrepreneur, and producer has dedicated his life to transforming the world’s stale status quo into a vibrant, inclusive, communal, and compassionate society. He is the founder of Community Arts Create, co-founder of the Hillman City Collaboratory, co-founder of Black & Tan Hall, and currently serves as the Artistic Director at NW Folklife. He served on the Seattle Music Commission from 2017-2021, and co-chairs the Columbia Hillman Arts & Culture District. Benjamin was the recipient of the 2015 Governor’s Arts & Heritage Award and the 2016 City Arts Magazine Future’s List Award. In 2016, his roots duo, Ben Hunter & Joe Seamons, took 1st place in the International Blues Challenge. Benjamin is a 2019 Gordon Ekvall Tracie Memorial Awardee, a 2020 Artist Trust Fellowship Awards recipient, and served a 2020/2021 Artist-in-Residence at On The Boards. Ben plays in the internationally acclaimed roots duo, Ben Hunter & Joe Seamons; as a soloist, performing original works; and with his band, The Intraterrestrials. In 2017, Benjamin composed music for the critically acclaimed dance piece, Black Bois, which presented at On the Boards in 2017, and The Moore Theater in 2020. In 2023, Benjamin collaborated with Seattle and New York based artists to create Untitled, composing the music for a multi-disciplinary production with dance, visual, architectural, and storyteller artists. Connecting all his experiences in one musical language, Benjamin’s music scans the margins and the nucleus alike searching for the stories and intersections where everything converges. For more information on Benjamin, please visit benjaminhuntermusic.com