About Us
We are a non-profit annual festival for all students of music. The festival runs for three weeks every spring, and offers professionally adjudicated classes for all ages and levels of study. We also offer a small range of non-musical expressions such as speech & poetry.
Our Mission
The mission of the High River and District Music Festival Association is to promote music and speech art performance by students and enthusiasts within our district. We do so by producing the Highwood Lions Music Festival. Our festival is a high-quality festival, providing entrants with valuable performance experience, and employing highly qualified musician teachers as our adjudicators. We focus on adjudicators with experience in teaching, as we feel that not only are they skilled musicians, but they are best adept at providing supportive guidance to our entrants.
Festival Sponsors
Our festival is supported by local associations. Businesses, teachers, residents, and grants from the Province of Alberta are the key financial ways our festival is supported. Our festival would not be possible without the generous support provided by the Highwood Lions Club.
Volunteer Driven
We are a volunteer organization. Every member of the Board volunteers their time, and the people you meet at the festival venues are all volunteer as well. Our festival would not happen without the generous donation of time by these community-minded people. Many of our volunteers have been giving of their time for many years--please offer your thanks if you run into them.
Our Heartbeat
Our festival is proud to be a 'teaching' festival, where our top priority is creating a culture where participants leave equipped to further hone their skills and encouraged in their efforts.
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We offer competitive scholarships and awards, students receive marks and certificates, but we do not announce 'places' in each class.