The 2016 Battlefords Kiwanis Music Festival was brought to a close with the gala Wednesday, at the Dekker Centre. The festival gala featured adjudicator-chosen festival highlights from all the music disciplines and categories along with the distribution of the numerous awards generously sponsored by local community members, organizations and businesses.聽 The cost of hosting the festival is around $20,000 each year so it couldn鈥檛 be done without them.
This year there were donations of $7,800 for scholarships, plus the music festival committee added an additional $450 to top up awards and to cover areas without scholarships. The minimum amount of a scholarship this year was $100. Sobeys increased their scholarship for most promising vocal participant to $500.
The Evelyn Ulmer Memorial Scholarship of $1,000 awarded to a promising piano entry, awarded since 2000, may be the only scholarship of that amount for local competitions in the province.
Also worth mentioning is Bob MacKay, a longtime festival supporter, especially of young male singers who may need a boost of encouragement. This year, he donated six scholarships, all in vocal categories.
In addition to voice and piano recognitions, string players, speech arts, choirs and bands compete for numerous and substantial awards. To be eligible for awards and scholarships, a participant must be 19 years of age or younger, have performed two or more solo selections in the same discipline or, for band, at least one solo and one small ensemble.
A participant must have lived or studied in the Battleford area for a minimum of six months prior to the festival, or be studying elsewhere, but still supported by parents living in the Battlefords and district. Recipients must be present to receive awards, though exceptions may be made with the prior approval of the scholarship and awards committee.
Trophies, plaques, and shields do not leave the building though keepers, if awarded, can be taken home. If you were fortunate to receive an award, be sure to send a thank you to the sponsor of that award.
If you were nominated or recommended by an adjudicator for provincial competition, being held early June this year in Saskatoon, note that pieces must be memorized in order to compete. In order for participants to be recommended to the provincial festival where they will compete against performers from all over the province, they must compete in specified classes to be recommended with a piece must be of a specified degree of difficulty, must be in at least two classes at the festival and receive a minimum mark of 87
The festival cannot function without the many volunteers working as door stewards and secretaries. Setting up and tearing down is much less of a burden with many hands helping. There would not be a stage to showcase local talent without the flexibility of festival venues. Third United Church accommodated the bulk of this year鈥檚 festival traffic accommodating performance and warm up spaces. Looking ahead to next season, do keep in mind that we are always looking for parents and community-minded music lovers to step forward and say, 鈥淗ow can I help?鈥� If you might be willing to assist, even in a small way with of the 2017 Battlefords Kiwanis Music Festival, simply share your interest with any committee member!
"I think from the beginning, as I was coming into my own persona and understanding of who I was, I never talked down to my audience. When you don't talk down to your audience, then they can grow with you. I give them a lot of credit to be able to hang with me this long, because I've gone through a lot of changes, but they've allowed me to grow, and thus we can tackle some serious subjects and try to just be better human beings, all of us." 鈥� Prince
