(The following article originally appeared in The Huntsville Forester on April 11, 2007.)
By Gillian Brunette
The Huntsville Festival of the Arts has launched a brand new, eye-catching, user-friendly website.
The website has been designed by Steve Spencer of webmastermind.com.
“The aim was to make the website as accessible as possible,” Spencer explained. “It’s easy to use. When you first get on the site there is a revolving slide show of upcoming events. You can then easily access information by either browsing month by month in a calendar format or searching by keyword.”
The site also offers links to the festival’s home, the Algonquin Theatre, and to the festival blog.
“We are very excited about the new website in that we feel it is a bit more interactive with our patrons. Access to the artists’ information is only a couple of clicks away,” said Rob Saunders, festival general manager.
“In most cases we have the artists’ websites linked into our pages, so the user is encouraged to click through and learn more about the artists and possibly listen to samples of their works. Like all websites, it is a work in progress, so we welcome any comments or suggestions regarding its user-friendliness.”
The Huntsville Festival of the Arts has also announced its core season lineup, much earlier in the year than usual.
“We used to wait until the release of our brochure to announce the season lineup and start ticket sales, but in this increasingly electronic world we decided to start the ticket sales earlier. All our artists have their own websites. Once a contract with them has been signed, they post that they’re coming to Huntsville in the summer. It wasn’t fair to the theatre box office to hold off on allowing ticket sales.”
The 2007 festival season offers a little bit of something for everyone. It should be a great summer of entertainment, added Saunders.
“In planning our 15th season we wanted to bring in some new artists, but also to recognize some of our most popular performers from past years.”
The Huntsville Festival of the Arts 15th core season runs July 4 to 22, with most evening performances taking place at the state-of-the-art Algonquin Theatre.
Headliners for this year’s festival include tenor John McDermott (July 14), gold and platinum recording artist Bruce Cockburn (July 18) and Jim Cuddy (July 4), known for his work as the lead singer of Canadian supergroup Blue Rodeo.
“Huntsville’s own Hawksley Workman will perform on the festival’s closing weekend on July 21, in recognition of our 15th anniversary celebrations, followed by Kerry Stratton leading the festival orchestra in a Last Night at the Proms,” said Saunders.
In addition to 2007 being the 15th anniversary, it will also be the inaugural year for the Huntsville Jazz Festival. Running from August 2 to 5, the jazz festival will feature great jazz offerings at restaurants, bars and outdoor venues during the day, and four evening concerts at the Algonquin Theatre.
Confirmed shows to date include Cuban/Canadian Hilario Duran leading an eight-piece salsa band in a traditional Latin evening, and legendary jazz pianist Oliver Jones, returning to Huntsville to share his dynamic keyboard skills.
The season’s lineup can be viewed by visiting www.huntsvillefestival.on.ca and tickets can be purchased through the website or by calling the box office at 705-789-4975.
Season brochures will be available in early May. Call 788-2787 or e-mail info@ huntsvillefestival.on.ca to add your name to the mailing list.
The Huntsville Festival of the Arts is supported by grants from the Canadian Department of Heritage; sponsorship from several corporations, foundations and local businesses; individual donations; and hundreds of generous volunteers and artists in the community.
