OUR MISSION
OUR MISSION
We are dedicated to working with performing arts educators to develop artistic skills and a love of the performing arts for all ages and skill levels in music, dance and speech arts.
Our annual community Festival provides reputable professionals who foster inclusion, education and performance opportunity during adjudicated sessions. We celebrate participation, achievement and excellence through a series of special concerts and an awards program.
An Enriching Experience
Education, Encouragement, Inspiration!
Performance Opportunity: Festival provides local artists with the opportunity to perform before an audience of their peers and other community members.
Fantastic Adjudicators: Festival engages renowned experts in the arts to provide quality adjudications and feedback to each performer.
Many Disciplines: With sixteen Sections, including Music, Speech Arts and Dance, Festival offers options for most performers.
Quality Venues: Venues are carefully chosen to provide the best possible performance experience.
A Path to the Provincial Festival and National Music Festival: Adjudicators will recommend the top performers in eligible Sections to participate in the BC Provincial Festival and the National Music Festival.
Awards Program: Each year Festival distributes over 400 awards that are generously gifted by over 100 donors.
Classes for Everyone: Classes are offered for junior, intermediate, senior and adult levels, as well as community and school groups. Participants who would like to enter simply for their own enjoyment, to gain experience and to benefit from supportive adjudication are welcome!
Since 1927 we have been celebrating Victoria’s unique artistic creativity
The story of the Greater Victoria Performing Arts Festival Association (Festival) begins in 1927 - well before the Second World War.
At this time the then Victoria Musical Festival Association was a major event in the City's cultural and social life. In 1935 Mayor David Leeming opened the Festival by remarking that one-tenth of Victoria's population was represented (more than 800 entries and 7,000 competitors). In 1937 the "Formal Inauguration Programme" was opened with the Provincial Supervisor of Technical Education officiating.
Entrants came from the BC Mainland, Washington and Oregon. Adjudicators were imported from Eastern Canada and Great Britain, and the local newspaper provided extensive biographical details on them. Daily coverage was given of Festival classes, locations, competitors and prizes awarded. Some of the prizes currently awarded have their roots in these first years - the Rose Bowl (Vocal) and the City Medallion (Piano).
World War II interrupted the Festival. In 1950, it was restarted under the aegis of Dr. Fred and Mrs. Ada English and renamed The Greater Victoria Musical Festival Association. Dr. and Mrs. English collected a small group of volunteers who became the core of the society until well into the 1980's. Classes included piano, strings, vocal and choral, speech arts, school dance, school choirs, bands and orchestras.
In June 1950, the Festival lasted four days and utilized three churches for venues. Four adjudicators were engaged for 608 entries. Miscellaneous expenses recorded in 1962 included: entertainment for the adjudicators, lunches for Festival help, transportation of pupils to Honours Concerts, and rental of parking space. Throughout the 1950's and 1960's, membership sales were actively pursued and many other strategies were employed. As example, boy scouts were paid a nominal fee for every membership they sold. In 1966, the Constitution notes that "At the special discretion of the Board, (members were entitled) to special entry privileges during the sessions of the Festival."
In the 1980's, the Music Festival joined the Performing Arts Festival and thereby brought studio dance in to the fold. The name was subsequently changed in 1994 to The Greater Victoria Performing Arts Festival (GVPAF) to better reflect the inclusion of Studio Dance and Speech Arts (the latter having been part of the Festival since the 1950's).
