THE BATTLEFORDS –The 90th annual Battlefords Kiwanis Music Festival is scheduled to run from March 20 to April 1. The Jan. 22 entry deadline is upon us with the entry fees as solo $1, duet/trio/small ensemble $15 and band/choir/large ensemble $30. One can enter categories up to one week after the deadline with a late registration fee of $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 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 and district. Other students are welcome for adjudication and recommendation to the provincial and national level competitions.
If you are an individual or business interested in sponsoring, there are a range of options. Advertising space of various sizes can be featured in the festival program, in print and online. If interested in sponsoring an adjudicated festival session, this will be recognized at the entrance of the venue and acknowledged in the virtual livestream. With any donation, there is recognition of being a “friend” of the festival with acknowledgment in the festival program and newspaper. Sponsors may choose to support a music discipline they prefer. If interested in being a major gala sponsor, contact committee member Jaki Esquirol directly at jaki@sasktel.net. If interested in sponsoring awards or scholarships, contact committee member Karen Ulmer atkculmer@sasktel.net. If you have an interest in volunteering, contact committee member Loralee Cawood at l.sander@hotmail.com
Most festival sessions are being held at the Dekker Centre. Band and instrumental sessions will be at the Kinsmen Band Hall. Sessions will be live-streamed allowing access beyond in-person. For those wishing to attend in-person, the festival will comply with Saskatchewan Health Authority 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 COVID test (children under the age of 12 are exempt). Everyone in attendance must provide proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test and properly wear a mask inside the venue at all times.
The festival committee welcomes youth to create artwork again this year to be featured in the festival program and in the festival venues. Since it’s our 90th local festival, the theme invites ideas that are “blasts from the past” and “flashes from the future” perhaps incorporating the number 90. Artwork creations are welcome from any youth 18 and under in the Battlefords area. The deadline is Feb. 18. A winning entry will be chosen, and the student who created the piece will be recognized. Submit entries by mail to: Battleford Central School, attn: Lindsay Charabin, Box 400, Battleford, S0M 0E0 or Ecole Monseigneur Blaise Morand attn: Trina Bahrey, 1651- 96 St, North Battleford, S9A 0H7.
“No amount of talent can ever replace hard work. Fame and recognition is something that one earns with persistence, hard work and dedication. The important thing is not to get there first, but to know how to get there. As long as you don’t stop clapping, I won’t stop singing.”
– beloved Mexican icon Vincente Fernandez (1940 – 2021): recorded 50 albums, winner of three Grammy Awards, winner of nine Latin American Grammy Awards, with a spot of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
