Event draws more than 3,000 performers to city

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This article was published 07/02/2016 (2994 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Festival of the Arts kicks off its 88th year on Tuesday.

Festival president William Gordon said the month-long event is important for the development of young musicians and dancers across southwestern Manitoba.

“It gives them a chance to perform and then to receive an adjudication so they get that perspective, plus the fact they get to hear other students play at about their same level,” he said.

“The festival is based on the fact that students at relatively the same level of performing get to play together.”

This year, more than 3,000 performers and 1,200 entries are slated to take to stages across Brandon.

Those totals are less than previous years.

“I think we’re slightly down, but that’s generally what’s happening right across the country — enrolments are slightly down in music and dance,” Gordon said.

Adjudicators come from all four of the western provinces this year, which adds even more value to the experience, said Gordon, who is also a local music instructor.

The festival starts with two days of school and community music recitals before turning to sessions for speech arts, dance, and specific instruments.

The encore concert is set for the final day, March 6.

Gordon said the dance portion of the festival, running from Feb. 15-21, is Manitoba’s second-largest dance festival outside of Winnipeg’s Dance Manitoba, which is held in May.

William, who has been one of the festival’s organizers for five years, said the city-wide event is self-sustaining.

“It’s essentially revenue generated by entry fees, and we have a substantial amount of money given to us by our patrons, and then we have a few gifts in kind and things like that,” he said.

Performances take place across the city — and the venues are another highlight, reports Gordon.

“The churches that we use, particularly, are very generous with their space and then also, of course, for the dance and the choirs, we use the Western (Manitoba Centennial) Auditorium, which is a wonderful professional space in town. The School of Music at Brandon University lets us use the recital hall, which is a wonderful performance venue,” Gordon said.

For Brandonites, the festival means a wealth of entertaining performances across the Wheat City.

“Any of our sessions would be very entertaining. If you prefer the young grades, you can just look at our program and make that particular selection and you’d be very welcome to come and listen,” he said. Programs cost $5 and are available at the Brandon University School of Music Office, Pirouette Active Wear, Surridge’s Music Centre and Ted Good Music Ltd.

» tbateman@brandonsun.com

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