This past Tuesday we heard from Kathleen bell, the coordinator of the St. Albert Amplify Festival. She had come to give us a report on their 2017 festival and to say thank you for the donation which we made in it’s support last year. The festival is an arts festival designed to give young people in northern Alberta between grade seven and the age of twenty-one a chance to both develop and showcase their art, creativity and cultural talents. It takes place over two days in October and this year will be the fifth year for the festival.
The festival is composed of eight workshops, for which a minimal registration fee is charged, seventeen free drop-in activities and two evening concerts called the Battle of the Bands for which a minimal entry fee is charged. It also includes an art exhibit, a poetry slam, and presentation of various video projects. The workshop and other activities cover topics encouraging young people to develop their skills as musicians, artist and writers and also gives them a venue to showcase their talents.
It is organised and run by volunteers and receives most of it’s eighty-thousand dollar yearly operating budget from the City of St. Albert. The volunteers take care of organising, fundraising, managing social media, marketing and many other duties. They also have a committee of youth advisors who ensure that the topics covered are relevant to todays youth culture.
Last year it gave one hundred and forty-seven young people a chance to show their talents and was attended by over nine hundred people.
Kathleen then showed us a musical video presented by one of last year’s participants who subsequently went on to win several awards from the City of St Albert as a poet and young artist. She said that this festival gives young people a chance to try something new, develop their talents, learn about themselves and develop their self confidence. She said it is also an innovative way to help young people deal with challenges in their lives such as bullying, loneliness, depression and anxiety. It gives them a way to express themselves and helps them to become resilient and confident members of society. She closed by thanking us again for our donation to helping these young people share their talents.