Kiwanis Festival set to launch 93rd edition
The deadline for entering the 2019 Kelowna Kiwanis Festival is fast approaching.
Registration closes Tuesday for dance entries and Jan. 22 for music and voice entries.
Performers can register online at KelownaKiwanisFestival.com.
The festival features 26 days of dance, voice and music events where amateur performing artists take to the stage and are reviewed by professional adjudicators from across Canada.
The event includes opportunities for awards and scholarships, and the chance to represent Kelowna at provincial and national events.
All 12 festival categories (brass, choral, concert band, dance, musical theatre, orchestra and chamber, piano, speech and dramatic arts, strings, voice classical, voice popular and woodwinds) can be taken in by the public for free. They take place throughout April.
The gala concert on May 31, which is a celebration of the festival’s highestachieving performers, is a ticketed public event.
In 2018, the festival hosted more than 3,000 participants and 5,000 audience members.
Last year’s intermediate musical theatre winner Megan Edwards, 19, is among those encouraging people to enter.
In a news release, she said “I feel great about how I did! I learned so much and had such an amazing time too. Of course there are little things that weren’t planned, but no performance is ever perfect. I’m happy with how it all turned out.
“It’s nice to have the Kelowna Kiwanis Festival because it’s a chance for me to work on my own personal skills when it comes to song selection and blocking. It’s an opportunity for me to have my own say in how I act a song and to see what works and what doesn’t.”