Beth Cook is well suited to be the new executive director of the 72nd annual Lethbridge and District Kiwanis Music and Speech and Arts Festival.
“I’m a retired teacher, so I’ve been on both sides,” said Cook.
“So I’ve had a lot of experience bringing hundreds of groups to perform at the festival. There are numerous hours going into getting things prepared for one two to five minute performance,” she continued.
The well established festival runs March 19-31 in seven different venues across the city. It features approximately 1,200 young up and coming performers participating in bands, choirs, handbell choirs, theatre arts, musical theatre and playing a variety of solo instruments like piano and much more for a solid two weeks of entertainment.
Cook spent last year shadowing long time executive director Carole Roberts, but before that spent a good 10-15 years as a teacher with Park Meadows School, preparing choirs and handbell choirs to participate in the festival.
“I’m really enjoying being involved. There are always new challenges and something to learn,” she said. Many of her colleagues are involved with bringing groups to the festival and she knows enough about music to be able to keep things running smoothly and eliminate problems like spelling errors of pieces in the program.
There are a few changes this year including having Écolé Agnes Davidson as a new venue for this year’s French poetry performances.
“It’s a win win situation,” she said.
The school came to them expressing interest in getting involved, promising there would be many more entrants if they were a venue. They were true to their word as there were only 11 French performances last year and a lot more than that this year.
“They said we could have more entrants (if they held the French Poetry segments there) and they wouldn’t have to pay for bussing,” she said.
As a young girl growing up near Westlock in northern Alberta, she was a singer who participated in the festivals up there.
“Edmonton was 100 miles away, so I participated in the local competitions and in local talent shows. When you love music, you just love to do it,” Cook said.
She is loving being involved with the Kiwanis Music and Speech Arts Festival.
“We’re the third biggest festival in Alberta,” she enthused.
In addition to the daily shows happening every day, there are two big wind up concerts.
The best of the musical theatre showcase is March 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the Yates Theatre, which features the best performances in the speech arts category.
And the Festival of the Stars takes place March 31 at the Yates Theatre.
“ It’s a representation of all of the other disciplines from over the course of the festival. We really want to encourage the public to come because they will be blown away by what these young people are doing. We think it is good to accentuate the positive,” she enthused.
Both shows begin at 7:30 p.m.. Admission is five dollars to see the best of the festival.
Admission to individual shows is two dollars, however you can buy a program for $10 which means free admission to everything. Individual shows take place throughout the day at 9 a.m., 12:30 or 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. each day. Times may vary slightly due to bussing and giving the adjudicators a quick moment for lunch.
The top three winners of each category will be invited to participate in the provincial festival in Edmonton. The winners from that will be invited to participate in the national festival in Fort MacMurray.
The Kiwanis Speech arts and music festival is a huge event which not only involves a good portion of the community participating including students, parents and music teachers, but also is helped by over 100 volunteers, most of them Kiwanis club members and numerous businesses sponsoring it. Adjudicators are coming from all over Western Canada to provide the artists with positive feedback and advice on their performances.
“ They might tell them the same thing their teachers have been telling them or they might come up with something completely different,” she said.
She noted her background as a teacher preparing students for the festival has given her a solid background for organizing the event.
“I’m enjoying getting to work with young people. They have so much energy. It’s a great opportunity for them to come and perform and get some positive feedback on their performance,” she said.
