FESTIVAL TEAM

FOUNDER/ORGANIZER

Brandi Waller-Pace (they/she) is an artist, educator, and scholar based in Fort Worth, Texas. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Decolonizing the Music Room, a nonprofit with a mission of uplifting the musical traditions of Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian peoples through education and performance. A graduate of Howard University, they earned a Bachelor and Master of Music in Jazz Studies.

During their 12-year tenure teaching general music, Brandi served as a mentor teacher and wrote district music curriculum. In 2019 and 2020, she served on the Texas African American Studies Course Curriculum Advisory Team, which helped to formulate curriculum standards for Texas’ first state-approved African American Studies course.

After years of performing primarily jazz, neo-soul, and genre-crossing originals, Brandi found the banjo and old time, opening a deep connection to traditions of her ancestors. She subsequently created the Fort Worth African American Roots Music Festival, an annual event celebrating blackness in American roots music. Brandi has co-produced, curated artist lineups, and performed with Bluegrass Pride, The Bluegrass Situation, and PineCone-Piedmont Council of Traditional Music. They also sit on the board of directors of Folk Alliance International.

Brandi has shared stages with artists including Allison Russell, Jake Blount, Kaia Kater, Nicholas Ryan Gant, Gangstagrass, and the Carolina Chocolate Drops. They penned the song “You Are,” featured on Nicholas Ryan Gant’s Promises and Introducing Nicholas Ryan Gant, and lent backing vocals to the track “Once There Was No Sun,” on Jake Blount’s The New Faith. Brandi recently released two singles, “In My Mind” and “Nothing at All to Say,” from their upcoming EP.

Additionally, Brandi works as consultant, presenter, and speaker nationally and internationally. They have contributed writing to the New York Times, The Bluegrass Situation, The Orff Echo, The Illinois Music Educator Journal, Music Education Journal, and The Oxford Handbook of Care in Music Education.

FESTIVAL ASSISTANT

Behind Sturdy Roots is Multifaceted Entrepreneur, Lillian Werbin. Born into folk-music and social-gatherings, their calling to understand and share socio-cultural evolutions has created a legacy. Lillian was known for a myriad of extracurricular activities, always moving on to the next interest when their fill of information had been exhausted. This game of interest roulette brought about a love of different cultures, professions, life-styles, and people.

After graduating from East Lansing High School in 2008, their time started at Western Michigan University. While at University, Lillian co-led an all-female a cappella choir, further solidifying their intent to make a life of collaborative growth. While completing her Communications degree, Lillian studied abroad in Bath and London, UK with the BBC, the Guardian, and University of London and received a Bachelor’s in Public Relations from WMU in 2014. 

​Cultivating a desire to become more involved in the communities they most care about, Lillian joined their family business, Elderly Instruments and continues to co-lead it with their father. It was the family-business that gave Lillian the opportunity to learn about operational efficiency and resource allocation. This immersive journey into optimizing processes and improving interdepartmental communications ultimately allowed Lillian to bring an established business into the modern era of ecommerce. Lillian blended skills taught in adolescence with the business requirements of today’s landscape, taking on a whole new Sturdy  lease on life. 

Growing beyond the expected, Lillian has become deeply involved in a variety of national and local non-profit organizations that focus on uplifting and protecting their community. These include Bluegrass Pride, the International Bluegrass Music Association's Foundation board, the Arnold Shultz committee, and the Rhapsody Project. Lillian, as Sturdy Roots Lansing, has assisted in the organization and execution of events across the United States including the Fort Worth African American Roots Music Festival (FWAAMFest), The Banjo Gathering, and Midwest Banjo Camp. Sturdy Roots has also managed stages, merch booths, and artists for events, such as the Baltimore Old Time Music Festival and Queerfest.