Penticton festival celebrates youth talent in multiple disciplines

Youth talent celebrated

Photo: Contributed

Winners at the Penticton Kiwanis Music, Dance and Speech Arts Festival

The Penticton Kiwanis Music, Dance and Speech Arts Festival recently opened its celebration of young talent in nine disciplines.

More than 1,600 competitive and non-competitive amateur youth in the performing arts showcase skills in various instruments, musical theatre, speech arts and dance.

Adjudicators from around Western Canada and the United States awarded numerous scholarships to some of the winners:

• Ashlie Atkinson - Director
• Charlotte Wilson - Comedy Class Medallion
• Emmerson Gatenby - Junior Musical Theatre Provincial Alternate
• Ava Burghardt - Intermediate Musical Theatre Provincial Alternate
• Sienna Van Every - Intermediate Musical Theatre Provincial Representative
• Ava Schwartzenberger - Intermediate Merited Musical Theatre Participant
• Aleksander Filipovic - Intermediate Musical Theatre Provincial Representative
• Douglas Masson - Motion Picture Medallion

Mayor Julius Bloomfield spoke about the event saying to the students, in part, "Your dedication, determination and passion in these disciplines is so clearly demonstrated in your commitment to being here and giving it your all."

Editor's note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the competition had concluded, Castanet regrets the error. The program can be found online here.