By Gillian Brunette
After losing money last year, the Huntsville Festival of the Arts is in a healthy financial position, due for the most part to increased ticket sales this past season.
While expenses, such as artists’ fees, were up, ticket sales brought in $87,000 more than last year, an increase of 36 per cent, and the May Marché fundraiser netted $42,000. It was enjoyed by 530 patrons, up by 150 from the previous year.
The final balance sheet reflects a surplus of $62,420, of which $7,500 has been placed in a reserve for education expenditures. The remainder will act as a cushion in case of losses in future years.
The festival had 43 bookings at the Algonquin Theatre in the past year. From Sept. 6, 2006 to June 2007 there were 11 concerts and a three-performance play. During the July core season there were 16 mainstage concerts over the 19 days, including double-bill shows for Jim Cuddy, Bruce Cockburn and Hawksley Workman. Nine of the shows sold out, which was a record. In July, there were also 10 Music at Noon concerts presented at Trinity United Church. They too garnered record attendance.
There were three performances of Stina Nyquist’s play The Lost Chord and the first jazz festival in August, with four evening concerts followed by three concerts and a play that ran three nights. The jazz festival will return in 2008 and will be expanded to incorporate the new River Mill Park and other outdoor venues.
“We had a great year,” said president Kareen Burns at Saturday’s annual general meeting (AGM).
“It was my first year as president, which was a learning curve for me, but it was fun more than anything. Everyone worked together as a team, which was a great start for me.”
Looking back over the past year, Burns reflected on some of the festival highlights.
Education: “Kalaedoscope brought the creme de la creme of Muskoka artists to Pine Glen School. The theme was Reach for the Sky and how each class reached that goal was incredible. We hope to do another one this year,” she said.
Other education initiatives included a slam poetry event, which brought in four performance poets to lead a poetry workshop for Huntsville High School (HHS) students, and the Children’s Canadian Dance Theatre for 13 to 19-year-olds.
“Next year, we are going to focus more on educational programs. Greg Sutherland (HHS teacher) has been a huge help and will be working with the education committee this year, so we hope to do more,” said Burns.
Fringe Mosaic: “The fringe program included a successful Arts Splash, thanks in part to the involvement of Tawingo College counsellors, and the Poetry Café, which for the first time was held at the Algonquin Theatre and featured guest poet Pier Giorgio Di Cicco, a very interesting gentleman,” Burns said.
Fringe events also included the second year of the Arts Walk at Avery Beach Park, and another sold-out Jazz in the Garden at Spencer’s Tall Trees restaurant.
The festival also acted as an umbrella for two events: the Muskoka Novel Marathon, which raised funds for the Muskoka Literacy Council, and a three-part children’s series presented by the Huntsville Public Library library at the Royal Canadian Legion.
Mainstage: “I was blown away by Bruce Cockburn and it was a magic second show when Hawksley (Workman) joined him. Lighthouse is as good if not better than before and the Leonard Cohen night with Perla Battala was very special.” Burns went on to say that The Lost Chord was her favourite of Nyquist’s plays and noted that Gregg Evans, who played Joseph Tapley had his work cut out for him. “He had a lot of words, the most he’s ever had to learn for a play,” she said.
In 2006-2007 the Huntsville Festival of the Arts also gave out five scholarships totalling $2,500, donated $2,000 to the Huntsville BIA to go toward the community mural, and provided $2,000 to the Algonquin Theatre for a sound board. It underwrote the rental of the theatre for the HHS Christmas concert; presented Cadence, a singing group, for a workshop at HHS; rented the theatre to allow the Battle of the Books to hold their final event for school students; presented a concert to a full house of public school students, featuring talented students from HHS; and supported the first annual Artsfest showcasing HHS students in the visual and media arts.
(Photo by Jon Snelson)
NEW BOARD: the 2007-2008 Huntsville Festival of the Arts board stands outside the Algonquin Theatre following its annual general meeting and election of officers on Oct. 13. From left to right are board members for the upcoming year: (seated) Pam Smyth, secretary Carol Gibson, president Kareen Burns, Tia Pearse; (standing) Jon Snelson, Gillian Brunette, Ron Baker, June Salmon, Susan Lowe, Suzanne Riverin, Helena Renwick, Ross Kirwin, past president Mike Malone, Jenny Cressman, Sharon Stock-Feren, vice-president/administration Bruce Gowan and general manager Rob Saunders.
The AGM concluded with the adoption of the new board for the 2007-2008 year. The executive committee is made up of president Kareen Burns, past president Mike Malone, VP of administration Bruce Gowan, plus two additional directors, Jenny Cressman and Ross Kirwin, who will serve a one-year term. Two new directors were elected to the board: Helena Renwick and Ron Baker.
