Chris started at Passim in October of 2023 after ten years working as Marketing Manager at the Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport, MA. Prior to that, Chris spent many years as a music journalist, starting out first in New Orleans (where he left his musical heart) and then in Boston writing for many outlets including the Boston Herald and the Boston Phoenix, as well as producing several NPR stories for WBUR.

He now lives in Ipswich with his wife, his two kids, an unruly (but sweet) dog, and several noisy chickens. When not at Passim, he makes big, delectable messes in his kitchen and sings in a large and rowdy string band called Bottles & Cans, otherwise known as the Ipswich Dad Band.

Sarah first started working at Passim in 2017 while she was in a local folk/americana band. She left in 2019 but couldn’t stay away long, and is now back as the Hospitality Manager and doing her own thing as a solo singer/songwriter.

Sarah studied classical vocal performance at Westfield State University, learning many skills that she mainly only utilizes at weddings and funerals. She is currently in the process of recording her first solo album, which she is hoping you may get the chance to hear live someday at a certain beloved local music club.

Maddy has lived in Boston for the past five years, first attending Berklee College of Music and now working and living in Allston. She has worked at Passim as administrative coordinator since August 2021, and is very excited to be a part of the Passim community. She is also a musician, playing in freak folk duo Sweet Petunia and singing in indie rock band Winkler.

A native of Northern California, Mariel Vandersteel is a New England-based arts administrator, graphic designer and musician. Mariel is thrilled to rejoin the team as the Development Manager after having been involved at Passim as a former staff member, School of Music instructor and performer.

Mariel first started performing at Passim’s Open Mics in 2006, eventually at campfire festivals and countless other support and headlining shows since. After graduating from Berklee College of Music with a degree in Violin Performance, Mariel moved to Norway to study the hardingfele at Høgskolen Telemark, Rauland and released her debut fiddle album, Hickory. Soonafter, Mariel joined Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards. The band was twice selected by the U.S. State Department to act as cultural ambassadors throughout Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, India, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Montenegro, Greece, and Estonia.

Inspired by her experiences performing, teaching and collaborating nationally and abroad, Mariel continued to cultivate her curiosity and interest in the deep and magical community that forms around music and received a masters degree in Arts Administration with a certificate in Fundraising Management at Boston University while working full-time at Passim.

When not at Passim, Mariel loves to spend the evening cooking or baking, hand quilting using recycled textiles, and going on hikes with her husband, daughter and sweet dog, Luna. She currently sits on the Board of Directors at the Lexington Community Farm.

Matt Smith was a patron of Club Passim for two years and a volunteer at the Club for three months before he began working at Club Passim as a performance manager in the summer of 1995. Two years later, he became a full-time manager. He has also worked for Young/Hunter Management (Peter Mulvey, Chris Smither, Dar Williams, Richard Shindell) and was one of the founders of FolkWeb, a now-defunct, online folk-merchandise store.

Since beginning his career in the music world, Matt has been on panels and advisory committees at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, the International Folk Alliance, and the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance. He has worked as a tour manager and sound engineer for the singer-songwriter collaborative, Live From New York (Edie Carey, Teddy Goldstein, Anne Heaton, and Andrew Kerr) and the Celtic band Halali (Hanneke Cassel, Laura Cortese, Lissa Schneckenburger, and Flynn Cohen). Matt has also been a stage emcee at the Falcon Ridge and the Newport Folk Festivals, and he is the founder of Club Passim’s campfire. festival.  Matt currently teaches Venue Management at the Berklee College of Music.

As the Managing Director of Passim, Matt’s duties include booking and developing new talent, booking and coordinating campfire. festival, and booking special events. Matt also manages several shows at the Club per week.

Abby started working at Passim shortly after moving to the Boston area in 2013.  She started in the box office of the club and soon became a performance manager.  As the manager for Club Passim, she now supervises and trains the club staff, manages and engineers many shows in the club, coordinates the campfire. and Down Home Up Here festivals, and is an extra pair of hands wherever they’re needed.  She also administers Passim’s grant programs, including the Iguana Music Fund, Gecko Fund, and Brian O’Donovan Legacy Fund.

Abby studied English Literature at Saint Mary’s College and German Language at the University of Notre Dame, which included one year at the University of Innsbruck, Austria.  With no formal sound education, she learned audio engineering totally on the job.  She has played violin for several years, though she much prefers being at the sound board to being on the stage.  As far as she knows, she’s the second person ever to have a Passim tattoo and the first to have two.

She is currently serving on the Board of Directors of Folk Alliance International.