Hi everyone, thanks for your support throughout all these years.
Polyfold is on an indefinite hiatus.
But you can still check out all the music that was recorded at:
http://polyfold.bandcamp.com
and here’s a little bit of historical preservation for the knowledge hungry folx out there…
But what was Polyfold?
The Beginning (📍 Detroit )
Polyfold started in 2015 in Detroit as a collective of improvising musicians with the goal of supporting each other and our community through musical and professional collaboration. The collective consisted of up and coming musicians steeped in the richness of the Detroit musical tradition, with affinity to a holistic/experimental approach to music that is unbound by any particular style or genre. In addition to performing and organizing numerous concerts and workshops, we have partnered with cultural organizations including the Carr Center and Spread Art, educational programs including Detroit Youth Violin, and facilitated artistic residencies for touring musicians in Detroit.
The Bridge (Detroit <-> Brooklyn)
As more members of Polyfold migrated to New York City/Brooklyn, the function of the collective shifted towards establishing a bridge between like-minded communities in Detroit and NYC. We partnered with various venues and institutions to organize numerous concerts in NYC, creating opportunities for Detroit based musicians to play in the city . One highlight during this time is the organization of Polyfold Free Arts Festival at the New School’s Glass Box Theater, a full day of concerts featuring a wide cast of both NYC/Detroit based performers.
Non-profit Status
As our commitment to community building and engagement has increased we decided to pursue a tax-exempt status as a cultural organization. In May 2018 we received an official designation from the IRS as a 501(c)3 tax exempt group. This status enables us to seek institutional grant funding as well as private charitable donations.
2018-2020 (📍Brooklyn)
As more Polyfold activities started to center around New York City / Brooklyn, Polyfold officially made its transition to be a Brooklyn-based collective with the Detroit-based members stepping down. We have fundraised over $10,000 to date in support of Polyfold Presents, a monthly concert series that spanned from 2018-2020. Beyond the concert series, we have continued to support and engage the community through collaboration with Columbia’s CDI, the Polyfold Music Record Label, the Sunday Salon series, and numerous other initiatives.
Indefinite Hiatus
The pandemic unfortunately killed a lot of the momentum that Polyfold has built, and in November of 2021, we used the rest of the non-profit funds raised to run the Re:Fold festival as one last hurrah featuring a slew of Brooklyn creative musicians. Now we are in indefinite hiatus
Past Members
Alex Levine | guitar
Yuma Uesaka | reeds
Ben Rolston | bass
Lesley Mok | drums
Marcus Elliot | reeds
Michael Malis | keyboards
Molly Jones | reeds
Stephen Boegehold | drums
Matt Setzler | reeds
Rafael Statin | reeds
Jake Shadik | reeds
Alex Koi | voice
Alex White | drums
Jon Taylor | drums
Matthew Daher | drums
Ian Finkelstein | keyboards
Sasha Kashperko | guitar
Glenn Tucker | keyboards