100 Mile Festival of the Arts Committee co-chair Marilyn Buyar says all of the plans are in place for Festival of the Arts 2016 adjudications that will take place in Martin Exeter Hall starting on April 17 and ending with the Showcase Concert on April 29.
Bruce Madu, who is the other co-chair, says the registration day, which took place on Feb. 13, was fantastic with 377 students registered for the spring festival.
This year’s festival adjudicators are Colleen Whidden (vocal), Anita Perry (piano), Susan Bertoia (speech arts) and Peter Stiggings (instrumental and band).
The adjudication schedule will start with vocal followed by piano from April 17 to 21 and speech arts followed by instrument from April 24 to 28.
Buyar notes there is a new initiative for this year’s festival as student workshops with each adjudicator, are scheduled during the festival.
“This gives student participants the opportunity to work on an informal basis with experienced adjudicators and gain valuable knowledge related to practice and performance.
“Each year, we work hard to find adjudicators who we are confident will work effectively with participants – people who are experienced, yet approachable and understanding in their work with young artists.”
Meanwhile, the Key It Up! Committee has had a very busy year raising funds for a new grand piano for Martin Exeter Hall, with the goal of having it in place for this year’s festival.
“The new piano will be on stage for the festival; it was all finalized [at the beginning of April]. The brand new concert grand piano arrived on March 2.
“We were quite successful and it’s going to be there for community use, with some restrictions, but if a group wants to have use of the piano, it will be there for them.”
Madu notes the committee is looking for people interested in the arts who could help out with planning workshops and recitals, administrative tasks, grant applications and many other small jobs. Anyone who is interested in helping can contact him at 250-395-7700.
“All of these positions are necessary to ensure the committee can continue to offer arts opportunities to young artists in our community,” says Buyar.
