Lola Tyler, Executive Director of the Wheatland Music Organization and former longtime Treasurer of FARM, lives and breathes the spirit of community building. She has shown exceptional excellence in community stewardship, structural leadership, and cultural preservation of the Midwestern folk and traditional arts scene for nearly four decades. Her peerless depth of organizational knowledge, wealth of grassroots relationships, and decades of quiet, tireless advocacy have shaped the cultural landscape of the Midwest.

Lola began as a deeply committed Wheatland volunteer before becoming their Business Manager and ultimately their Executive Director, exhibiting sheer dedication, a willingness to collaborate, and most importantly, to a willingness to listen and learn. Under Lola’s visionary leadership, the Wheatland Music Festival has grown into an internationally recognized pillar of the folk community while maintaining its rare, authentic, and family-centered atmosphere. She has expertly balanced the logistics of supervising large-scale events and multi-turn educational programming with an unshakeable commitment to inclusivity, cultural preservation, and regional collaboration.

Lola has managed an overall budget grown ten-fold during her tenure. She has overseen the membership and donor program and been active in fundraising and grant writing. She helped the festival build ties with the local community, including recruitment of local residents who help convert the farmland into a campground for the festival weekend. She and her staff coordinate a staggering network of over one thousand volunteers, including local residents and festival goers from across Michigan. Under her tenure, artist performances have grown from 20 artists groups on 5 stages to 75 groups across 13 on-site venues. Wheatland is now an essential tour stop, giving a platform to local and regional stars while hosting traveling, world-class international acts.

Lola is a dedicated and passionate advocate, ensuring Wheatland is not just a weekend event, but a year-round resource center that provides community education in schools and senior sites, monthly jamborees, and vital partnership platforms for regional traditional artists. Wheatland presents an annual Traditional Arts Weekend with music, dance, and craft workshops, and the WheatScouts program for children.

Lola has mentored others in festival leadership positions. During the covid pandemic, faced with canceled festivals and tightened budgets, she participated in monthly Zoom meetings, sharing information on available grants, decision tree protocol for festival cancellations, and overall support during unprecedented times. She helped provide alternative programming through virtual festivals and by successfully seeking sustaining grants and funding. She is always approachable and willing to share information, how-to, and best practices.

On top of her monumental work with Wheatland, Lola gave her time and leadership directly to FARM as a longtime board officer, working behind the scenes to help ensure the continuation and betterment of the annual conference and strengthen the folk community across the region.

With longevity and commitment, Lola has built countless relationships and an enormous amount of institutional knowledge, guiding and illuminating the path for new generations of folk performers, volunteers, and music lovers alike.

https://wheatlandmusic.org