ᎬᏩᏚᏫᏛ ABOUT
Kalyn Fay (Cherokee Nation, Muscogee descent) is a songwriter and musician from Oklahoma, who fosters an additional interdisciplinary practice that interweaves visual arts, curation, and education. Born and raised in rural Oklahoma between Cherokee, Muscogee, and Osage territories, they are deeply rooted in their nuanced relationship to Oklahoma, and their musical practice is a reflection of that influence. Focusing on self-location, community, collaboration, and empathy, Kalyn sees their music as a way to lean into personal and shared narratives. Their songs embed Indigenous understandings associated with community and environment, navigatings the ways in which we all intersect with the hopes of building bridges of understanding between. Kalyn Fay’s music is “for you, for me, for us, for we.”
Kalyn Fay currently resides in Tulsa, OK. Recently, they were awarded an NACF LIFT Fellowship Grant and a First Peoples Fund Artist-in-Business Leadership Fellowship Grant. In 2022, they were featured on the fully Cherokee-language compilation record, “Anvdanelesgi (Performers),” which includes twelve multi-genre Cherokee Nation musicians. Kalyn Fay has released two full-length albums, Bible Belt (2016) and Good Company (2019), with their third record, ᎠᏫᏒᏅ (Garden), slated to release in 2024 under Horton Records (Tulsa, OK). Fay has performed at nationally and internationally acclaimed festivals, such as SXSW, Kerrville Folk Festival, Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, Folk Alliance International, Live in America, FreshGrass Festival, FORMAT Festival, and the Smithsonian’s Folklife Festival.
Kalyn Fay holds an M.F.A. from University of Arkansas (2021), an M.A. from The University of Tulsa (2016), and a B.F.A. from Rogers State University (2012). Kalyn Fay has worked with Peabody Essex Museum, Philbrook Museum of Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, The Momentary, Eiteljorg Museum, The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, amongst other national institutions and international venues for performances, workshops, and creative partnerships.