As acting dance director, I enjoy supporting the youth, community and the arts by belonging to the Penticton Kiwanis Music Festival board and organizing the dance portion of the festival.
Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, said: “I have seen the critical role that the arts play in stimulating creativity and in developing vital communities — the arts have a crucial impact on our economy and are an important catalyst for learning, discovery and achievement.”
The Penticton Kiwanis Music, Dance and Speech Arts Festivals are an important part of our community and a showcase for the youth of the Okanagan. The board itself, and disciplines of music and speech arts, are especially in need of volunteers. Our festival cannot continue as it stands. And we are running out of time as we need to appoint all board positions by the annual general meeting at 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 11.
Not all positions of PKMF need to have festival experience or performing arts experience. We are in need of dedicated, caring individuals with some computer skills (email, database, word) and people skills. Most of the board members are an asset if they have a connection to members in the community, some business experience (letter writing, organization, can execute tasks on schedule) and time management skills. Please apply to festival co-ordinator: Lorraine Alatalo at 250-493-8322 or pkmf@vip.net.
We are in need of these positions: president — who acts as president at board meetings (one meeting per month), leads board meeting, creates agenda and maintains schedule, liaison between community/city issues and board, writes letters on behalf of the board when needed; vice-president — who acts as president when the president is unavailable; treasurer — who keeps books monthly, submits financial report, writes needed cheques to cover expenses, payments and scholarship awards, submits HST return forms, balances registration forms to payments received (database); media — who writes news articles, contacts newspapers, corresponds with Shaw Cable, Sun FM, CBC, photo coverage of some events, reports results from festival disciplines to newspaper, email, advert creation, correspondence by phone/person/email; captain/director — who schedules entries into a program, edits registrations, contacts entry to report changes, answer emails/phones during registration directly related to discipline, decides awards/gala performers for final concert, may help with finding adjudicators, liaison for adjudicator during the festival, helps run event of festival (March/April). Also needed: choral and musical theatre.
The purpose of the Penticton Kiwanis Music, Dance and Speech Arts Festival is to complement and enhance the learning/teaching process. It provides an opportunity for students to perform their music, speech arts and dance achievements and to receive a constructive, meaningful evaluation of their performances. In doing so, the festival aims to foster and promote a lifelong interest and appreciation for music, dance and speech arts. Help us continue past our 87th year! www.pkmf.org
Danica Venables
Penticton