Celebrating our 10th Season!
The Collingwood Music Festival Association is the only community non-profit organization in the Georgian Triangle/Collingwood area that is dedicated to live concerts featuring the finest-calibre classical and World music. It was founded by our Artistic Director, Douglas Nadler, in 2000. In 2001, a Board of Directors was established, and with it, our non-profit and incorporation status in September of 2001. Our mandate has always been to present the best in Canadian professional classical and World music for the people of our community, and to educate our community about music. Diversity has always been central to our artistic vision, as you can see by looking at our brochures for the past several years. In 2009, we celebrate our 10th year as a music festival.
With the growth of our Festival in the past five years, our mandate has also grown and expanded to include a commitment to youth in our community, a commitment to innovative ways to involve other groups in our community, and a commitment to the environment. We have also become a year-round cultural resource for our community, instead of being simply a summer music festival.
The Festival was honoured in 2007 with the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s Great Grants Award for Arts and Culture in Simcoe -York.
The Collingwood Music Festival is a presenter of classical and world music. We have gradually increased the number of concerts we present each year, expanding diversity and choice for the public. We also present lectures and informal talks to educate our community in music appreciation, and we have begun outreach activities in the local elementary schools to help instill an understanding and love of music in the area’s children.
We have responded to the cultural needs of the community in a variety of ways. Our community is a fairly homogeneous one, and we have brought experiences of multicultural music to broaden their horizons culturally. We bring Canadian musicians from a variety of backgrounds to perform the music of their homelands in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe, thus broadening the cultural understanding of our community.
We have also become a leader in the community in educating the public about the earth and nature, and promoting best practices in environmental awareness. We print all our promotional material of recycled paper, encourage car-pooling, and present speakers and events that raise awareness about environmental issues.
We work with environmental and human rights groups such as the Blue Mountain Watershed Trust, the Bruce Trail Association, Nature League and Amnesty International Group 81, giving them space in our foyer during concerts to educate the public about their missions and activities.
We do cross-promotion with the Georgian Bay Symphony in Owen Sound and the Huronia Symphony in Barrie.
We have recently been in contact with the Parry Sound Festival of the Sound and the Kincardine Summer Music Festival to discuss their children’s programs to see what we can collaborate on effectively.
We have a long history of initiating cooperative ventures with other community organizations and we remain open to creating new partnerships within our community and beyond.
According to our Constitution, created in September of 2000, the aims and purposes of our organization are: to provide the community with a series of professional musical concerts of the highest calibre; to encourage and foster public knowledge and awareness of music in the community; and to educate the public in music by the presentation of these concerts, and where possible through informal lectures in music appreciation. Since 2001 we have fulfilled the goals of our organization every year for the benefit of our community and our region. Our tenth year will continue this quest for excellence and this service to our community.