The Toronto Kiwanis Festival is a celebration of music, dance, dramatic and visual arts in an inclusive artistic environment focused predominantly on students and youth. The Festival is built on a COMMITMENT to music, dance, dramatic and visual arts and guided by the following values:
ACCESS –a platform open to all performers and audiences
EXPERIENCE – onstage and in life
SUSTAINABILITY – built
for generations of artistic excellence and appreciation
RELATIONSHIPS – hand in hand with our performers, volunteers, supporters and
communities
The Kiwanis Music Festival of Greater Toronto (the Festival) was founded in 1944 by Sir Ernest MacMillan and Colonel George Walter Peacock with the financial support of five Kiwanis Clubs. In its first year, the Festival attracted 4,500 young musicians and double the number of entrants in 1945, with almost every Toronto public and high school entering an orchestra, band or choir in the Festival. Since those early days, the Festival has evolved to include students studying privately and a broader selection of musical instruments such as erhu, guzheng, sitar and steel drums. While presenting classes in traditional Western European ballet, jazz and tap, its broad scope also includes categories for folk dance and a competitive venue for dance groups from public schools and recreation centres. For community groups, this is one of the few opportunities to participate in a competitive environment. The music festival is held annually over a two-week period in late February and offers several hundred classes including Speech and Drama. Venues are typically schools and churches across Toronto. The Dance Festival is held over five days in late March, offering two days of competition for school and community groups and three days for private studio dancers. The Festival is the largest of its kind in Canada, attracting on average 30,000 performers each year of which approximately 95% are students and youth. The alumni number over two million people, including such distinguished performers as Lois Marshall, Ofra Harnoy, Mary Lou Fallis, Angela Hewitt, Liona Boyd, Erica Goodman, Stewart Goodyear, Steven Staryk, Naida Cole, Misha Brueggergossman and Glenn Gould. The Festival is a not-for-profit organization run by a 14-person volunteer Board of Directors including designated representation from the Kiwanis Clubs and the education sector. The organization is run by a full-time General Manager, a part-time Artistic Director and contracted support as needed.
