MPP for Guelph, Liz Sandals is pleased to announce that the Kiwanis Music Festival of Guelph has received an Ontario Trillium Foundation Grant of $13,400 to purchase a new stage.
“This Trillium grant for a new stage will provide an improved performance venue for students who participate in the Kiwanis Music Festival and for other Guelph community groups,” said Sandals, in a press release.
The staging will be housed at St. George’s Church, where other performance groups will also be able to use the new stage.
The concept was the idea of festival coordinator, Heather Fleming who wrote the successful grant proposal, but it was the efforts of St. George’s facilities manager, Mike Blythe that brought the idea to life.
St. George’s director of music, Gerald Manning and parishioner, Peter Anderson, both Kiwanians, along with St. George’s Rector, Ralph Blackman worked with Blythe to research the ideal staging and determined that Staging Canadell Inc. in Saskatchewan was the right company to build it.
Local architect, David McAuley, donated his expert assistance in planning the design that would become the new dais in St. George’s sanctuary.
The new platform allows for much improved sight lines for audience members and was used for its first concert during one of Hillside Inside’s performances last weekend.
“The Kiwanis Music Festival is so grateful to the Ontario Trillium Foundation for the generous donation which has allowed us to purchase custom-built semi-permanent staging which will enable St. George’s church and its incredible acoustics to be utilized as a regular performance venue by the festival and all of our various local performance groups,” said Fleming.
The Kiwanis Music Festival of Guelph is an annual festival for students of all ages. Students from Guelph and the surrounding areas have the opportunity to perform in competitive and/or non-competitive classes in performance venues throughout the city, where they are adjudicated by professional musicians who provide encouraging critique.
Deserving performers are eligible for scholarships and awards and can be selected to compete at the Ontario Music Festival.
The festival aims to encourage diversity by attracting as many participants as possible, and by making the Festival experience rewarding and inspiring for all.
For more information visit www. guelphkiwanismusicfestival.org.
