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Festival Focus

June 2020
Welcome to Festival Focus, the official newsletter of the Saskatchewan Music Festival Association. This format is intended to draw you to our website with details of each article. We hope that you enjoy reading our newsletter.

SMFA Annual General Meeting; join us via ZOOM - November 7, 2020
Due to uncertain time lines and restrictions under COVID-19, this year's AGM will be held in a virtual format. SAVE THE DATE and help us reach our goal of 100% attendance by District Festivals. The AGM will begin at 10:00am and generally takes about an hour. A series of webinars on pertinent festival topics will be available to view with your committees in your own time.
A link to the registration form will be available on our website by September 15.
The following notice of motion will be brought forward at the Annual General Meeting. As always, it is vital that representative(s) from all District Festivals are present at the AGM to cast their vote(s). According to the SMFA Constitution, voting rights are based on the number of entries in all classes published in the official program for the District Festival immediately preceding the AGM of the Association:
  • Less than 150 entries – 1 vote
  • 150 to 299 entries – 2 votes
  • 300 entries or more – 3 votes
Notice of Motion: Saskatchewan Music Festival Association withdraw from Federation of Canadian Music Festivals. Tammy Villeneuve/Dianne Gryba. CARRIED.
Rationale:
  • With the departure of Alberta in 2018, and BC and Ontario in 2019, the Federation of Canadian Music Festivals is no longer a National Music Festival with only 7/10 provinces participating. Students in these departed provinces often played a vital part in setting the performance standard.
  • Fees and cost to attend have steadily increased. Travelling east is expensive, with 2021 confirmed in New Brunswick. The loss of FCMF revenue from the departed provinces will likely increase costs even more significantly.
  • SMFA does not have confidence in the FCMF current leadership.
  • Plans are underway for a Western Canadian Competition, with Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, to replace the upper level of competition for our students.
Nominations are accepted for two three-year positions on the SMFA Board of Directors. Please consider nominating someone from your District Festival and submit the Board Nomination Form to Karen Unger at kjamb@sasktel.net by October 15.

SDA/SMFA Spoken Word e-Festival - June 2020

 



Announcement of Winners
View the Performances


Moving forward with COVID-19

What will music festivals look like in 2021? We all have questions, and at this point, there are no definite answers. 2021 festival dates have been confirmed for most District Festivals, and adjudicator hiring will begin over the summer months. While we look forward with optimism to a festival season with live performances, the board and staff will continue to monitor the situation and formulate an alternate plan, if necessary. Stay tuned! And keep your fingers crossed!

 



IMPORTANT! Regulation Change for the 2021 Festival Year
The Board of Directors has ruled to make an exception to SMFA Regulation No. 1 - Selections and Performance - for the 2021 festival year. The regulation in the 2019-2021 SMFA Syllabus reads:
"Competitors may not perform the same selection(s) for any festival performance/competition two years in a row, with the exception of the Piano and Violin Senior Performance Classes 20200 & 30090.

For the 2021 festival year, competitors will be allowed to enter repertoire previously entered in 2020 District Festivals, whether or not the competition took place. This exception is made in light of cancelled festivals due to COVID-19.
 

Teacher/Mentor/Accompanist Directory coming soon!

SMFA has been working to identify communities in need of teachers of music and speech arts, and to connect those communities with qualified teachers will to provide a service. The first phase included a survey of teachers in Saskatchewan and a request for District Festivals to communicate their areas of need. In the second phase, teachers were invited to submit a form stating their availability, willingness to travel/relocate, and other pertinent information. We are now in the process of publishing a Teacher/Accompanist/Mentor Directory which will be shared with all 47 District Festivals, stakeholders, and published on our website. The Directory will be available soon, so stay tuned! We are looking to expand the Directory, so please "spread the word" and share the Directory in your music community.
 


From the SMFA Board and Staff

As we continue to grieve the loss of the majority of our 2020 SMFA festival season due to Covid-19, we thought we’d refer to our history book to see if our organization had ever faced such a huge disruption in programming.
 
According to the SMFA History Book Music for One, Music for All by Mossie Hancock, “The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 found the Association in a critical time of history. The largest festival was over (Saskatoon at that time) and faced a substantial deficit ($489). The Executive dealt with usual matters: proposed syllabus changes, protest from a choral conductor against awards, the engagement of adjudicators, how to deal with late entries. The fear of continuing war surfaced….it was the last Executive meeting for five years”.
 
During those war years, our founders also faced a disruption with implications similar to the pandemic we are now experiencing. A chapter in the book, titled Beginning Again, 1919 states: “As they picked up the pieces of lives so disrupted by war, it seemed that any activity which brought back memories of normal times must be seized as if could hold promise of a life with a future and a return to sanity”.
 
We look forward to “normal times” and live festivals. Please know that your SMFA board of directors and staff are making plans to ensure that SMFA competitions happen in 2021 and beyond. This has been an opportunity for us to examine what we do and to look for improvements. It has also made us all appreciate that we are stewards of a unique organization that changes the lives of children and communities each and every year.
 
Wishing you all a safe and socially distanced summer.
 
On behalf of the SMFA President (Sherry Sproule), Board of Directors and Staff

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2020 Calendar of Events

SMFA Annual General Meeting - Saturday, November 7 @ 10:00am via ZOOM
 

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The protection of information is important to the Saskatchewan Music Festival Association (SMFA).  We are committed to protecting the privacy of our members, participants, volunteers, partners, and employees.  Our commitment is to maintain the confidentiality of your information and preserve your right to privacy. Personal information collected is limited to that which is necessary for the delivery of SMFA programs only and shall not be used or disclosed for purposes other than those for which it was collected, except with the consent of the individual and retained only as long as necessary for the fulfillment of those purposes.

Copyright © 2017 SASKATCHEWAN MUSIC FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION, All rights reserved.
JUNE 2020 NEWSLETTER

Contact information:
PO Box 37005 | Regina, SK  S4S 7K3  |  306-757-1722  |  sask.music.festival@sasktel.net  | smfa.ca

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Saskatchewan Music Festival Association · Box 37005 · 4623 Albert Street · Regina, Sk S4S 0A2 · Canada

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