Washougal nonprofit forms Northwest Songcraft, will expand throughout region

The Washougal Songcraft Festival, a nonprofit organization that endeavors to foster Washougal’s performing arts scene and support the art of original songwriting, has announced the formation of Northwest Songcraft, a registered business identity that will allow it to expand its activities and more generally support original songwriters throughout Southwest Washington.

Northwest Songcraft will likely produce and promote songwriter concerts in other cities and communities in the region, including ticketed performances at established performing arts venues; look to form relationships with other nonprofits, festivals, and venues for potential collaborations in other locations, in parallel with continuing offerings in Washougal; and, depending on funding availability, consider offering grants directly to songwriters developing their own audiences in local communities, according to a news release.

“I’m deeply fascinated by, and devoted to, what happens when cultural treasures are not stripped from their region, re-engineered for novelty and stretched as far as they can go as consumer products, or condescendingly placed in an academic encyclopedist’s framework,” WSF co-founder Christopher Corbell wrote on the Northwest Songcraft Website.

“Like the ecosystem of an old-growth forest, I believe that the deepest, richest, most meaningful and most sustainable culture comes about when a people in a region invent it for themselves, attending to creativity where they live and engage. Much like farm-to-table and regional craft beverages improve our local food culture, Northwest Songcraft is about recognizing and developing deeply original music culture directly and locally.”

Corbell and his wife, WSF co-founder Stephanie Corbell, attended the 2025 FAR-WEST Conference, held Oct. 9-12 in Vancouver, where they hoped to connect to other regional resources, collaborators, and artists.

The new venture will not change the branding of the Washougal Songcraft Festival, the flagship summer concert series which will return to downtown Washougal in August 2026.