There are jobs for volunteers come in all shapes and sizes at the Battlefords Kiwanis Music Festival. Any amount of time or talent you have to offer is welcome. If you have volunteered in the past and would like to volunteer again, please let a committee member know so your interest is not overlooked. Festival-specific jobs include duties such as being a secretary for the adjudicator, being a door greeter or helping with items such as decorating the venue or setting up chairs. Committee-specifics jobs can be something as simple as assisting with distribution of follow-up letters for scholarships and awards. Don鈥檛 be shy about your interest. If your time is not available, but you or your business would like to support the festival monetarily, consider sponsoring an award to be presented at the final gala event or sponsoring a session for a music discipline of your choice, or being recognized as a patron or friend of the festival.
If you know a child or youth artist who is 18 years old or under, encourage them to create a musical themed image for considered use in the 2016 Battlefords Kiwanis Music Festival Program. The festival program cover contest deadline is March 1. Artwork should reflect musical themes and be presented on letter-sized paper in a vertical or portrait orientation. Pictures may be drawn in black ink, pencil, coloured pencil, marker, crayon or medium of choice, but should have a white background. Artists must print their full name, phone number, school and grade on the back of their entry. Entries may be mailed to Box 1301, North Battleford, S9A 3L8, or submitted to Kelly Waters at North Battleford Comprehensive High School, Jan Michael Bourgeois at John Paul II Collegiate, or Margaret Sigouin at EMBM. Selected pieces of artwork that are not chosen for the cover may also be featured within the pages of the program. Also look for festival venues to feature and display other entries. Although all musical-themed ideas are welcome, typically those reflecting the festival鈥檚 disciplines are chosen for use in the program 鈥� solo or group singing/speaking, piano, acoustic strings, band/orchestra.
The festival entry registration date deadline is Saturday, Feb. 6 with the festival scheduled to run from April 16 to 23. Fees for solos, duets, trios and small ensembles are $13 per entry. We encourage multiple entries by offering the family rate of a 50 per cent discount after 10 solo entries by individual participants. Band, choir, and large ensemble entries are $25 per entry. Late entries will be accepted up until Feb. 13 with a $25 penalty fee. Our local area entry secretary, Melissa Hutchison, can be contacted by email at [email protected]. Entries are to be completed online this year, which also means online methods of payment for entry fees. If you need in-person assistance with this process, committee members will be available at EMBM Saturday, Feb. 6 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Festival participants are welcome for adjudication by experts in the field of each musical discipline and for recommendation to the provincial and national competitions. To be eligible for scholarships and awards, participants must be 19 years or under and have lived in the Battlefords and District for a minimum of six months prior to the festival or be furthering their education elsewhere, but still supported by parents living in the Battlefords district. The discipline areas include voice, piano, strings and band or instrumental. Further information about regional and provincial music festivals can be found on the Saskatchewan Music Festival鈥檚 website http://smfa.ca.
The current聽Festival schedule, pending final programming, for the 2016 Battlefords Kiwans Music Festival is: vocal April 16 to 18, band April 18 to 19; musical theatre -April 19; speech arts April 20 to 21, strings April聽22; and piano April 21 to 23.
鈥淭here, in the chords and melodies, is everything I want to say. The words just jolly it along. It's always been my way of expressing what for me is inexpressible by any other means.鈥�鈥� David Bowie
