Janis Ian was a teenager when she wrote “Society’s Child,” a song about interracial romance that arrived two years before such marriages were even legal in the United States. She has spent the six decades since proving that the hardest truths fit most naturally inside the simplest structures — and that conviction is what she has been sharing all this August at Caffè Lena, where she arrives Friday, August 28, for the final session of her workshop series.
About the Workshop
“Janis Ian Explains the World” is a four-part series running every Friday in August 2026 at Caffè Lena in Saratoga Springs, where Ian is serving as the venue’s first-ever Artist-in-Residence. Sessions cover guitar technique, music contracts, songwriting craft, performance physicality, and what the program describes as “the lived experiences behind a lifetime in music.” The August 28 session is the fourth and final installment, open to songwriters, artists, creatives, and curious minds at any level of experience.
Ian’s credentials for this kind of teaching are considerable. She has two Grammy wins from 10 nominations (for “At Seventeen” in 1976 and for her memoir Society’s Child in 2013), and both recordings have since been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. “At Seventeen,” from her 1975 platinum album Between the Lines, became one of the defining portraits of adolescent exclusion and outsider experience in American popular song. She was the first-ever musical guest on Saturday Night Live, performed at the Newport Folk Festival at ages 16 and 17, and released her final studio album, The Light at the End of the Line, in 2022, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album. She has been performing professionally since age 12 and is now 75. “Artists are scary because we challenge the status quo,” she said in a recent interview.
The workshop series is one thread in a fuller August residency. Ian appeared at Caffè Lena’s Songwriting Club on Aug. 8 and at the Rochmon Record Club on Aug. 26; she will guest-host the venue’s Open Mic night on Aug. 31.
Venue & Logistics
Caffè Lena sits on Phila Street in Saratoga Springs, in the Capital Region, and is widely described as the nation’s longest continuously-running folk venue. Its listening room is built for exactly this kind of transmission — close enough to watch a performer’s hands, quiet enough to hear what they are actually saying. The session runs 3:00–4:00 p.m.
Tickets
Registration is $120 and covers all four Friday sessions (Aug. 7, 14, 21, and 28). This is the final session of the series; the earlier sessions have already taken place. Prospective attendees should confirm late-registration availability directly with Caffè Lena School of Music at 518.583.0022. Buy tickets