Sponsorship vital to success of the festival

(The following Trumpeter column originally appeared in The Huntsville Forester on March 4, 2009.)

By Bruce Gowan,
Huntsville Festival of the Arts director

The quality and quantity of the events presented by the Huntsville Festival of the Arts (HFA) is dependant upon the generous support of many organizations and individuals. With the festival’s 17th season approaching, we would like to express our gratitude to current and past sponsors and patrons for its success to date.

The gate receipts for performances do not always cover the costs. Thus, the sponsors’ contributions often allow us to bring special talents to Huntsville for the enjoyment of all.

Another unique attribute of the festival is that all net proceeds are reinvested into the community. Ongoing projects include scholarships for area youth, artistic support for area schools and organizations, and subsidized performances and cultural events throughout the vicinity.

The support of sponsors is vital to the number of educational and cultural events that can be presented, as well as the number of scholarships the festival can provide.

We encourage all members of the community to help the festival by supporting our sponsors. Sponsors are acknowledged in our brochures and at festival shows, and we ask area residents to reward this contribution by patronizing the businesses that help bring excitement and education to our community.

Bruce Gowan, HFA director [Photo by Jon Snelson.]

Sponsorship can be given/recognized in several forms, including direct main-stage performance of a specific artist or group; these sponsors are acknowledged specifically at the related performance(s) as well as in our published literature. The Patrons Program is a general support mechanism for our summer program and participants are acknowledged in published brochures and programs. Individual donors are acknowledged in performance programs.

The HFA recognizes its sponsors with passes to performances, as well as the well-deserved public acknowledgements. The festival is always looking for new sponsors to help maintain and expand our programs. Potential new sponsors should contact HFA general manager Rob Saunders at 788-2787, or by e-mail to info@huntsvillefestival.on.ca, for details on how you can assist our community.

Last summer, the festival’s board of directors had the opportunity to acknowledge the exceptional contribution of several individuals for their hard work, encouragement and support of the festival of the arts since its inception. Recently, one of these individuals, Susan Alberghini, passed away in Toronto. Susan was one of the HFA’s co-founders and an ardent supporter. We will dearly miss her, but her legacy to our community has been clearly established and will carry on through our future successes.