2022 Covid chaos is not preventing the Battlefords Kiwanis Music Festival Committee from gearing up for the 90th year of the festival. The annual festival provides an incredible opportunity for students, giving them a venue to showcase their talent and access to feedback from top-quality guest adjudicators. It’s an event filled with inspiration and celebration for young musicians in our area.
This year’s festival is scheduled to run from March 20 to April 1. The Jan. 22 deadline for entries is fast approaching. The current intention is a live festival adhering to COVID restrictions. Entry fees are solo $1, duet/trio/small ensemble $15, band/choir/large ensemble $30. The late registration fee is $25 per participant. To be eligible for an award or scholarship, a participant must be 19 years of age or younger, have lived in or studied in 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 and district. Other students are welcome for adjudication and recommendation to the provincial and national level competitions.
The Dekker Centre stage will be the venue for voice, musical theatre, speech arts and piano performances. The Kinsman Band Hall will host the band and instrumental categories. The festival will be accessible through livestream, which is a wonderful option for participant supporters living elsewhere or unable to attend in person. For those wishing to attend in person, the festival will comply with public health measures current at the time of the festival. The Saskatchewan Music Festival Association requires proof of full vaccination with photo ID/or negative test (children under the age of 12 are exempt). Everyone in attendance must provide proof of vaccination or negative test and properly wear a mask inside the venue at all times. Solo competitors/small ensembles aged 12 and over may remove their masks when performing. Choirs are to wear masks and bands are to use bell covers while performing. Solo participants under the age of 12, who are unable to mask while performing (singers/ instrumentalists), will perform behind barriers. Accompanists will wear masks while performing. Competitors and accompanists must complete a waiver before festival and submit it to festival committee.
This year the festival committee will continue to use the online entry system, MusicFestivalSuite.com. This software allows volunteers to maximize their efforts in scheduling and planning the festival while keeping personal information exceptionally secure. Our festival’s version of MFS is located at http://bkmf.musicfestivalsuite.com. As MFS requires everyone to create a profile, it also gives teachers, parents, accompanists and students the ability to interact with their registrations long after they’ve been submitted.
Paying for all registrations at once is possible through PayPal, whether you have an account with them or not. All aspects of the information can be accessed from any device with internet connectivity. The teacher and student profiles set last year are saved in the MFS system. If you need to refresh your memory about how to use the website, you can go to http://www.musicfestivalsuite.com, where you can peruse the Festival Participants section for “how-to” use the software. Resources are at http://www.musicfestivalsuite.com/extra-resources.html where a MusicFestivalSuite.com representative will also be available every step of the way.
If you have an interest in volunteering, contact Loralee Cawood at l.sander@hotmail.com
"The last collaborator is your audience ... when the audience comes in, it changes the temperature of what you've written. Things that seem to work well ‑‑ work in a sense of carry the story forward and be integral to the piece ‑‑ suddenly become a little less relevant or a little less functional or a little overlong or a little overweight or a little whatever. And so, you start reshaping from an audience."
– Stephen Sondheim (1930 – 2021)
