Speaking Engagements and Teaching
Writing a Song That Matters
Dar leads an inspirational songwriting retreat for any and all who want to improve their songwriting. Attendees spend five days at the Garrison Institute, a beautiful former monastery perched on the Hudson River. For details, go to darwilliamsretreat.com
Writing Books and Writing Songs
An engaging, age-appropriate discussion of each creative process (prose and poetry) and a comparison of the two. Based on the writing of 8 studio albums on Razor & Tie Records and two young adult novels for Scholastic Press. Presentations are often 40 minutes of lecture/demonstration followed by 20 minutes of Q&A, but they are time-adaptable.
Schools Include:
- Palmyra Middle School, Palmyra, NY
- Ridgefield Middle School, Ridgefield, CT
- Yorktown Middle School, Yorktown, NY
- Meredith Middle School and High School, Meredith, NH
- Ossining Middle School, Ossining, NY
- Potomac School, McClean, VA
- Seven Bridges Middle School, Chappaqua, NY
- Milton Academy, Milton, MA
Songwriting
Tips and tricks of songwriting plus the encouragement to court inspiration, stay the course, and create a finished song.
- Folks Festival, Boulder, CO
- Fur Peace Ranch, Athens, OH
- concert day workshops at colleges and high schools
- Steve Earle's Camp Copperhead
- Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch
Positive Proximity: What I Found In A Thousand Towns (including the one where I live)
After 20 years of touring in countless towns and cities, fundraising for libraries, public radio and community gardens, and supporting the renovation of old theaters, Dar discusses the social capital-building, what she calls Positive Proximity, that allows towns to become unique, prosperous and self-reliant.
- Sarah Lawrence College
- Wesleyan University
