The Susquehanna Folk Music Society (SFMS) of Harrisburg has announced that its longtime executive director, Jess Hayden, will retire, effective Friday, Dec. 31.

Hayden has served as SFMS' executive director for the past 20 years. During this time, she has helped to expand what was already a robust organization by more than tripling its fiscal size and programming activity. She has taken SFMS from its roots in the Harrisburg area and has grown it substantially by adding events in neighboring York and Lancaster counties, including partnerships with York County Libraries and the Ware Center. Her most recent accomplishments have been creating the Susquehanna Folk Festival, a summer celebration of traditional arts; establishing SFMS as the region's Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Folk Arts Center; and developing a wide-ranging slate of online programming during the coronavirus pandemic.

Hayden grew up in a musical family. Her father, a music teacher who could play just about anything, decided to put together a family folk band. Traveling around to fairs and festivals as a member of the Dalton Family Singers fostered Hayden's lifelong love of folk music. She studied at Interlochen Arts Academy, an arts high school in Michigan, and then earned her bachelor's degree from Elizabethtown College and her master's degree from Penn State Harrisburg. She taught for the West Shore School District in the Harrisburg area and was an active SFMS volunteer and board member before becoming SFMS' executive director. Hayden has played the clarinet with several musical groups, including Old World Folk Band and West Shore Symphony Orchestra.

Over 36 years, the SFMS has presented hundreds of folk music and dance events featuring artists from around the globe as well as hometown performers. Those events range from jams, coffeehouses and intimate workshops to concerts and dances to big summer festivals. SFMS' programming is recognized and supported by many funding sources, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the Cultural Alliance of York County.