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Benefit gala and art show for Focus on Youth

The 31st annual Focus on Youth festival is quickly approaching.
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Benefit gala and art show for Focus on Youth.

The 31st annual Focus on Youth festival is quickly approaching.  The non-competitive festival featuring visual arts and performing arts by students of the Creston Valley was started in 1986 when two local teachers with a common interest – JoAnne Knobbe and Monte Anderson – combined their talents and that of their students.  The enormously successful festival was expanded the next year to include local public and private schools. Under the leadership of Margaret Lavender and with significant contributions from Elizabeth Hutton, Alanda Green, and the local school district fine arts committee, this festival developed from a one-day affair to a weeklong series of delightful concerts at the Prince Charles Theatre and an art show at the Creston and District Community Complex.  School classes perform a variety of genres, and local students give performances in piano, strings, vocal, guitar, and other instruments, as well as dance, gymnastics, drama, choral speech, and even juggling.  There are generally 14 concerts throughout the week.

While the local regional directors, the Town of Creston, and the school district continue to provide funding, the Focus on Youth committee must raise additional funds to help cover technical and theatre expenses, publicity, and rentals. To this end, a special benefits concert is being organized for May 4 at 7:00 pm at Prince Charles Theatre.

Stages of Dance (tap level 2) will start off the special benefit concert with “Parents Just Don’t Understand”.  Cory Hammond will then sing the very popular “I Know Things Now” from Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods.  Next will be Logan Penner performing three numbers on his fiddle: “Georgiana Moon”, “Jig of Slurs” and “Stones Rag”.  Marlise Tessman will sing everyone’s favourite Scottish ballad, “Skye Boat Song”.

Award-winning Emma Penner will entertain the audience by performing “Concerto #1 in A minor” by Jean-Baptiste Accolay on her violin and this will be followed by “Shady Grove”, a vocal performance from Jolah Hockley.  Megan and Taija Bibby will then dance to “Irish Swag”.  Following the dancers will be Leah Gailius on the piano with “Arabesque” by Claude Debussy.  Several numbers from the Key of She will follow: “A la Claire Fontaine”, “Johnny Said No”, and “Wood River”.

Alec Hammond, another award-winner, will perform “Intermezzo in E flat minor” by Johannes Brahms on the grand piano.  Kelly Mehrer will perform a monologue – “The Cremation of Sam McGee” by Robert Service.  The Creston Youth Choir will conclude the evening’s entertainment with “Rocks and Trees” and “Canada Is Really Big” by The Arrogant Worms.

This strong line-up of talent should make for an interesting evening of entertainment.  Admission is by donation at the door.

With the cancellation of the Provincial Arts and Culture Week, the Creston Arts Council is once again combining its annual spring art show with the visual art display associated with the Focus on Youth festival.  Complimenting the agricultural theme of Canada’s 150th anniversary (as suggested by A Full Plate), many of the art pieces have been inspired by this theme.  Students from kindergarten to senior high are submitting a diverse, eclectic variety of art in different mediums.

Demonstrations of the visual arts will take place throughout the exhibit.  A demonstration of Stamping with Art Foamies takes place on Monday morning, and the Mudders will be giving a clay work demonstration in the afternoon.  A fibre arts demonstration is slated for Tuesday morning.  Wednesday morning will see the Art Club at work, and there will be fabric collage demonstration in the afternoon.  The organizers are still arranging for a demonstration on Thursday morning, so that will remain a mystery.

An Opening Gala reception for Focus On Youth and the Art Show will be held in the Creston Room Monday May 1 between 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm with refreshments and a musical presentation titled This Is My Home.  It will include many of our young talent dancing, singing and playing guitar.  The Art Show is sponsored by Canada 150, Community Foundations of Canada, the Creston Valley Arts Council, A Full Plate, Creston Valley Music Teachers Association and Focus on Youth.

The art show, titled Farms, Fields and Foods: An Art Show, will be held in the Creston Room at the Creston and District Community Center. The show is open daily from Monday, May 1 to Thursday, May 4 (Monday to Wednesday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm; Thursday 9:00 am to 4:00 p.m.).  So why not relax and enjoy a great variety of styles of art and attend the official opening of Focus on Youth.

This year’s Focus on Youth will be held May 1 to 5.