(An abridged version of the following column originally appeared in The Huntsville Forester on Oct. 1, 2008.)
By Kareen Burns,
HFA president
Comme le temps passe vite! My second season as president is winding down. My passion for the arts and our eclectic festival exceeds my expectations. Roll on, year three!
Our dynamic festival board, the Algonquin Theatre personnel, volunteers, sponsors and our wonderful audiences have made our 16th season challenging and incredibly exciting.
I have a dream that the Huntsville Festival of the Arts will evolve into Canada’s foremost eclectic arts festival. Imagine the 2009 season. We will continue to expand our vision, raise the bar in excellence, diversity, education, avant garde fringe projects, and foster community partnerships. I am immensely proud!
Allow me to count the global ways to say thank you. Merci, takk, arigato, spasibo, toa chie, danke, gracias, obrigado! There are never enough ways to say thanks, thank you, and many thanks. Thanks to the very special recipients of our newly minted FBEA award (Festival Builders Excellence Award), who have made a profound contribution to our success and growth over the past 16 years. Thanks to our creative team who developed our new Edge of the Woods Theatre Festival, the Festival Image Makers Art Show, and our beautiful festival brochure image.
Thanks to the front-of-house Algonquin Theatre team, wearing the friendly smiles and funky festival ties while directing you to your seat with a little flashlight when running late, and the efficiency of intermission cocktails or selling performers' CDs. They are a positive and knowledgeable band of Huntsville hospitality promoters. Thanks to the back-of-house Algonquin Theatre volunteers. Led by the stage manager and dressed in black, they are a highly energetic and strong team. They welcome star performers at the theatre's back door, assist with their equipment set up and rehearsal in readiness for an 8 p.m. show. New volunteers, full of curiosity and excitement, are mentored and trained by the team.
Huge attention is paid to detail – electrical cables are taped down, there must be no fingerprints on the beautiful piano, the lighting and sets are arranged to complement the mood. Even the microphone on stage is set at the right height for my introduction. When the word comes from the front-of-house manager, “The house is yours,” the pre-show screen goes up, the lights go down, the audience hushes with anticipation and the magic begins.
Thanks to our hospitality team, who set up snacks and dinner for our performers in the green room, with tablecloths, candles, china, fresh flowers and a delicious meal. Huntsville TLC at its best!
Thanks to the performers’ magical moments: John McDermott’s Danny Boy, Les Stroud’s multi-media show, premiered in his home town, Stephen Lewis’s overwhelming passion, Jesse Cook’s unplugged song at the end of his show and many, many more memories. Thanks to our dear and loyal sponsors, patrons and supporters. You make it possible to be incredibly creative, bold and unafraid to showcase new performers and events.
Thanks to a dynamic festival board of directors. You create our festival season, meeting in October to plan the main stage shows and exciting fringe events for the following year. The board is a hands-on team, who put up tents and banners, took tickets, put on kids’ tattoos, introduced shows, built a beautiful art gallery in a church hall, created our marvellous Marche excitement and so much more.
Our amazing education outreach committee continues to deliver new ideas and directions with public and high school students. These include a spoken-word poetry workshop, painting 20 Group of Seven murals, which are now proudly displayed on the exterior of Huntsville High School. The students are our future audiences and we strongly believe in giving back to our community. Merci mes amis.
Finally, without an audience we would not exist. Thank you with all my heart. A full Algonquin Theatre festival audience is a joy indeed.
In Scottish, thenk ye.
