The Summerland Ryga Arts Festival will be using online and socially safe spaces for its annual celebration

Photo: Facebook

Members of the Board of Directors gather to accept a gift from Summerland and District Credit Union in 2019

While this summer has seen festivals and celebrations cancelled, many events are changing their setup in order to keep within proper protocol.

The Summerland Ryga Arts Festival is opening up their platform to online and safe spaces for performances, workshops and more. 

“It’s certainly not quite the festival we envisioned for 2020, but we continue to be inspired by the works and vision of George Ryga and have navigated to a blend of presentations for this year,” Artistic Director Heather Davies stated in a press release. 

The annual celebration is scheduled for August 15 to 23. The events are differ from free to attend (with encouragement to donate) and priced from $8 to $12. 

The festival celebrates George Ryga, an english language playwright who lived in Summerland  and was known for his play, "The Ecstasy of Rita Joe". His legacy also is recognized with a scholarship in the Banff Centre Playwrights' Colony and the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature.

The organizers encourage everyone to attend, online or in-person, 

A spotlight of the event will be from the Okanagan Valley aspiring writers, where actors will be doing a staged reading of their winning short plays. 

Tickets are now on sale online, and more info can be found at Rygafest.ca.