Lark Traditional Arts (LTA) was formed in 2019, but the community of talent and spirit supported by LTA has been growing for over 40 years in Mendocino. We formed this nonprofit primarily to ensure the continuation of Lark Camp, an 8-day traditional music and dance educational event held annually in the Mendocino Woodlands, after camp founder Mickey Zekley retired. Mendocino resident Mickie Zekley started Lark Camp in 1980 as a Celtic and American musical weekend retreat. Under his direction, Lark Camp has grown to encompass all three Woodlands camp areas, broadening our curriculum to include dozens of global music traditions, attracting up to 600 campers from all over the world to teach, learn, play, and create cross-cultural magic that enriches us all.
During Lark Camp’s jam-packed schedule, a faculty of 80 instructors offer nearly 150 workshops daily, covering music and dance traditions from dozens of regions worldwide, plus workshops on musical improvisation, songwriting, and more. Campers are encouraged to play together in impromptu jam sessions, and dances and music performances are held every night. Lark Camp is held in the beautiful historic Mendocino Woodlands, and through nature walks campers learn about the local ecology and river conservation.
Our board is formed of long-time members of the Lark Camp community (including several Mendocino County residents) who are committed to the continuation of Lark Camp and expanding Mickey’s vision to more events year-round. Despite the financial challenges posed by the pandemic that began less than a year after LTA was formed, in our first five years we have followed through on our commitment to increasing accessibility by expanding our roster of events beyond the annual flagship event Lark Camp.
In 2022 LTA started The Jughandle Campout, an “informal gathering of Lark-minded individuals” held at the Jug Handle Creek Farm and Nature Center in Caspar, CA. This four-day event, held annually in October, offers a more financially and physically accessible satellite to Lark Camp, with jam sessions, volunteer-led music workshops, beach hikes, and folk dancing to live music. We held our third annual Jughandle Campout in October 2024.
Looking forward to 2025, we are expanding our calendar of events, adding a fundraising event in March, a music education series in April and May (with events in Mendocino and Alameda counties), with a second music education series planned for the Fall.
See who is on our Board and Leadership Staff.
LTA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Will Wheeler (President) is a musician and software engineer who lives in Berkeley, CA. He’s been on the Lark Camp setup crew since 2000, and spearheaded the project of turning LTA into a nonprofit. In addition to being a mainstay in the SF Bay Area Irish and Contra dance music communities, he has been on the staff of several other camps including San Francisco Folk Music Club’s Camp Harmony and BACDS Family Week.
Marilyn Bohlen Simpson (Treasurer) grew up in a musical family, singing and playing violin, baritone horn, and piano. She holds degrees in music history and literature, and has taught solo voice for 37 years at Mendocino College and at home. She’s also an art quilter, loves to knit and to bake pies, and shares a large garden with her daughter Adrienne.
Meghan Miller (Secretary) teaches high school and lives in Fort Bragg, CA with her husband Alex Miller; together they have three children. The family sometimes plays old time and bluegrass music together as the Miller Family Band. They like to spend time kayaking, hiking, and mountain biking among the redwoods near their home. After Alex attended for several years, Meghan started attending Lark Camp around 2013. She has a minor in music from UC Santa Cruz, participated in a medieval choir during her graduate study time at University of York in England, and was a community choir member, and frequently plays for the local English Country Dance and Klezmer bands.
Danese Cooper is an international technologist, advocate for open source, and devotée of Irish Traditional music. A native Californian and graduate of UCLA, she currently lives in the West of Ireland and in Austin, TX with her husband Joey Trevino, with whom she has four children and three grandchildren. Danese has served as both an officer and as a founder for several non-profits, including the Open Source Initiative board, the Mendocino Woodlands board, and as a founding board member at Lark Traditional Arts. Having spent her formative years on the staff of the Renaissance Pleasure Faire, she plays Celtic and English Country Dance music. She has attended nearly every Lark Camp, starting with the first one.
Danny Carnahan is a musician, writer, and retired community college music instructor, living in Albany, CA with his wife Saundra and teenage son. He has performed as a folk musician for over 40 years, from Europe to New Zealand, recorded 13 albums of his own music, and produced dozens of others in the studio. His articles have appeared in many magazines and publications. He has taught multiple instruments, regional styles, and songwriting at several music camps including Lark Camp since 1981, at Blue Bear Music School, and online. Before joining the LTA Board he served 18 years on the Board of Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage.
Michael Jones is an electronics engineer, born in England, but living in California for the past 30 years. He currently lives in San Carlos with his wife Miriam and their two cats. Keen on multiple genres of folk dance, folk songs, board games, and travel, Michael has been to 45 countries and 36 US States. In addition to the LTA Board, Michael is the current Treasurer of BACDS and Berkeley Morris. He has also been past director of SFFFF, and the Registrar and Webmaster for Playford Ball.
Elizabeth “Izzy” Martin is an organizer and advocate with decades of experience working in rural communities to promote economic and environmental justice. Beginning in 1980 Izzy worked with farm workers, farmers, and environmentalists to promote organic agriculture and reduce farmworker and community exposure to pesticides. She served as a Nevada County Supervisor (199-2003) where she led the fight protect the Yuba River from dams. During her nearly 20 years as CE0 of The Sierra Fund Izzy raised hundreds of millions of dollars for projects to restore resiliency to the Sierra Nevada. She served on the Board of the Mendocino Woodlands Camp Association and has been a Lark Camper since 2004.
LTA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
David Wagner is the Executive Director of Lark Traditional Arts. A writer/musician living in El Cerrito, CA, David is a former manager at The Freight and Salvage, and a long time event caterer and event coordinator. David is a singer/songwriter, plays rhythm guitar and Western/Eastern percussion. After getting his MA in philosophy from SFSU, David moved to Istanbul, Turkey for several years before returning to the Bay Area.
Former Board Members
Susan Walsh is an active member of the State Bar of California. She lives in Oakland, California with her husband. She spent 32 years in practice as a Criminal Defense Attorney and now serves on several boards including several different organizations with a focus on community advocacy. Susan teaches law students at levels from high school to law school. Music has been an integral part of her life since she was young. Her love for singing, dancing, and instruments brought her to Lark Camp starting in 2007. She has been a part of the Lark Traditional Arts leadership team since 2018, and has been on the Board since 2020.
Celia Ramsay (Vice President) is a winery owner who lives in Napa, CA with her husband Kent Rasmussen, with whom she has two adult children. She has volunteered extensively as a writing coach through Writer-Coach Connection in Oakland, CA. She served on Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage board of directors for 7 years until 2021. She is a professional dance caller (teacher), vocal harmony instructor, semi-professional singer, songwriter & recording artist, and has attended Lark Camp since 2005.