The Bloomington Early Music (BLEM) Festival is in full swing.

About 30 musicians from across the country have come to Bloomington to perform and educate. The organization aims to bring the youngest and oldest members of our community together for an intergenerational learning experience.

Events are not limited to music. Previous years included costume workshops, quill-pen making, and “tavern hopping.” This year’s docket includes a screening of the Early Music Access Project’s “Rock & Reel: Monticello's Black Fiddlers” and a contredanse workshop.

This year’s theme is “Early America.” It focuses on music made in the United States around 250 years ago, which BLEM President Suzanne Ryan-Melamed said is robust.

“Who was in early America at the time?” Ryan-Melamed said. “Immigrants from various levels of society, or people coming in because they were held to enslavement...people who were poor farmers, people who were aristocrats, highly educated. Just this whole mix of people.”

After years of themes focusing on specific marginalized groups, the organization turned to a patriotic theme.

“We have had to explain ourselves,” Ryan-Melamed said. “We do it because we're super proud of the resilience of our society and the way that we have to keep struggling for democracy and for the remarkable mix of people... it all comes together into this American sound, and that's really the sort of the oral fabric of who we are.”

The festival runs through May 30.