Samuel Foucher grew up in the Monadnock region of southern New Hampshire. His love for the accordion began at a new year’s eve concert at a young, impressionable age.  Bob McQuillen and Jeremiah McLane were both inspirations and mentors on this versatile instrument. Contra dancing was a frequent and beloved part of his childhood, and he has a deep appreciation for music and dance traditions of all sorts. He also loves song, especially songs about the land and local history. When he’s not playing his instrument, he enjoys woodworking and carpentry, riding bicycles, growing food, making useful and beautiful items, and anything that can serve as a catalyst for building community.

“As a student in the previous incarnation of the Acadia Festival, I received so much joy and inspiration from all the folks who show up to learn and teach in this wonderful location. I am excited and honored to be a part of the Artistic Work Study team this year.”

Marie Hamilton, harpist and vocalist, will steal your heart in a minute. Accompanying her rich voice with intricate fingerwork, she blends sound, colour and emotion to create spaces of intimacy, openness and connection with her audience. Sharing her songs and stories about love, life and loss, there’s rarely a dry eye in the house when Marie performs. A Vermont native currently based in Montreal, she’s a recent graduate of Musicology at McGill University and has studied harp and song in Ireland, Scotland, and France with masters such as Maeve Gilchrist, Michael Rooney, and Laoise Kelly. Her music is nourished by a love for old melodies, an infinite curiosity, and a touch of synesthesia. She is committed to innovation while maintaining a strong connection with her traditional roots, breathing new life into classical forms. She has shared her music on stages, in gardens, on rooftops, by the ocean, and in forests all across eastern Canada and the US.

“I’m deeply grateful for the AWS which will make it possible for me to study with one of my favorite harpists out there while also offering my time, energy and skills to help out. There’s been an Acadia Trad-shaped hole in my summers the past few years and I can’t wait to be back at the ocean sharing melodies and making memories.”

Rose Jackson discovered contra dance music in elementary school, and began morris and step dancing soon after. As an aspiring dance musician, she was lucky enough to study with fiddler Becky Tracy, and later learned a thing or two about song and arrangement from Pete Sutherland as a youth leader with the Young Tradition Vermont Touring Group. She toured nationally with the contra dance band Polaris, taught at festivals such as the Dance Flurry, and lately has been playing gigs across New England with a rotating cast of musicians she admires. She knows the cool hip new tunes, but she most loves playing and sharing old gems from the archives.

Emilie Carroll is a fiddler from Simsbury, CT, and has loved all things Celtic fiddle since she was a toddler. She started playing Suzuki violin at age five after being inspired by fiddler Becky Tracy playing with Wild Asparagus. Emilie now plays Irish, Scottish, and Cape Breton fiddle and has been inspired and shaped by many mentors including Jeanne Freeman, John Whelan, and Katie McNally. She had the opportunity to compete in the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil in Drogheda in U15 solo fiddle in 2018, and co-founded the fiddle duo The Carroll Sisters with her younger sister Nora. They play locally and also in larger venues such as Boston Celtic Music Festival, and they released their critically acclaimed debut album Daybreak in 2021. Emilie also enjoys teaching younger students in both group and private settings around her town, and will be attending the University of New Hampshire for Violin Performance and Psychology in the fall.

As a person of many interests, Dylan often finds a way to merge his various curiosities to produce meaningful documentations of beautiful experiences. He discovered video and photography early in life and they have always been his primary mediums. He has also played music since childhood, but was swallowed – very willingly – into the trad music world in his mid twenties, picking up fiddle and slowly adapting his rock/jazz piano and guitar experience. Naturally, Dylan loves to capture this music both visually and aurally and has collaborated with many traditional/folk musicians and camps in New England and beyond. He is also a sailor and outdoor educator, working primarily with Atlantic Challenge in midcoast Maine. You can follow his work on instagram, @dladds, @doosterfilm, and @atlantic_challenge_usa.