Kiwanis Music Festival

The Kiwanis Music Festival movement consists of regional music competitions. These festivals are named after the Kiwanis service clubs which generally support the events in each community. Typically, musicians and speech arts performers at each festival are given the opportunity to perform and compete for scholarships.


Festivals by city

City Founded Notes
Brantford, Ontario 1946 Brantford Kiwanis ended this music festival in 2017. Brant Music Festival [1] continues as a new festival in the same tradition from 2018. Brantford Kiwanis Music Festival was originally Brantford Music Festival.
Barrie, Ontario 1979 Originally the Barrie Music Scholarship Competitions, the local Kiwanis chapter assumed operations in 1987.
Calgary, Alberta 1917 Kiwanis became actively involved in 1954, and was formally named the Kiwanis Music Festival in 1968.[1]
Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia 1939 Originally organized as solely a music festival by local IODEs, in 1940 it added "elocution" and is now known as the Cape Breton Kiwanis Festival of Music, Speech and Drama. The Kiwanis Club of Sydney became the sponsor in 1960 and continues to support the annual Festival today.
Chatham, Ontario 1945 The Kiwanis Club of Chatham had their first festival in 1945. Currently the Kiwanis Club of Chatham-Kent[2] is organizing this annual festival.
Edmonton, Alberta 1908
Guelph, Ontario 1981
Halifax, Nova Scotia 1935 Originally entitled Halifax Music Festival.[3]
Kelowna, British Columbia 1926 Originally the Okanagan Valley Music Festival, which was hosted in a 3-year cycle among Kelowna, Penticton and Vernon. Kelowna's festival became fully autonomous in 1981.[4]
Kingston, Ontario 1973
Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario 1948
Lethbridge, Alberta 1931? (2008 marks the 78th festival) Originally the Lethbridge Music Festival, the Kiwanis Club has operated the festival since 1953.
London, Ontario 1959 First year a small, limited competition. 2008 is indicated as 40th anniversary, where 1960 was the first of regular annual competitions.
Ottawa, Ontario 1945 Originally Ottawa Music Festival Association until 1985 when Kiwanis became actively involved.[5]
Penticton, British Columbia 1926 Originally the Okanagan Valley Music Festival, which was hosted in a 3-year cycle among Kelowna, Penticton and Vernon.[4]
Peterborough, Ontario 1946
Prince Edward Island 1946 Four local festivals (Kings County, Queens County, West Prince and East Prince) lead to provincial finals, then to the national finals.
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador 1952
Toronto, Ontario unknown [2]
Vancouver, British Columbia 1923 Originally the Earth Music Festival, established by the fraternal order of the Knights of Pythias. There are several smaller festival events from February each year (Jazz, Concert Band, Choral) leading up to the Main Festival in April.

Festival participants

References

  1. ^ Calgary Kiwanis Festival History Archived 2009-02-21 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Kiwanis Club of Chatham-Kent website
  3. ^ Nova Scotia Kiwanis Music Festival Association - history Archived 2008-07-08 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b Kelowna Kiwanis Music Festival history[permanent dead link‍]
  5. ^ Kiwanis Music Festival, NCR: General Information Archived 2004-02-08 at archive.today
  6. ^ Reaney, James (2 April 2002). "St. John signs Sony deal". Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2008.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)