Holiday Festival of the Arts turns 50
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- Published on Thursday, June 23, 2016
By Kira Paterson
The Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
This year, the Manitoba Holiday Festival of the Arts (MHFA) is turning 50. MHFA is a week long day camp featuring different arts classes for all ages. At least, that’s what it has become over the half-century it has been running.
It all started in 1966 with a University of Manitoba fine arts professor named Gissur Eliasson. He recognized that many people don’t have the time to be artistic, but all have the ability. So, he came up with the idea to offer a variety of workshops for all ages and stages, which became the festival.
The first MHFA was held in Souris, but in 1967, it moved to Neepawa, where it has remained ever since. At that time, it was the only arts festival of its kind in Manitoba and people from all over the province converged to learn, practice or refine their abilities.
The festival was originally two weeks long and offered day as well as evening activities. Riverbend Park was home to what was called “Festival Central”, where the people from out of town would camp while they were attending the festival. Back then, it was more like a real camp than just a day camp.
At first, courses were only offered in art (painting, drawing, etc.), creative movement (dance) and drama. Over the years, more courses were offered to include creative writing, music, crafting, woodworking and video making. This year’s lineup includes drama, dance, ecological science, literature, sculpting, animation and watercolour painting.
For children between the ages of five and nine, there are five different classes they will go to each day. Kids will get a taste of drama, dance, science, literature and visual arts. Three to five year olds can also come to HMK for a preschool program that runs for the morning.
Youth ages 10 and older can either do an all day camp or split their days between two different courses. The all day course is a theatre camp, where students will sing, dance, act and perform a concert at the end of the week. For the half day courses, in the mornings, students will write and create their own stop time animation videos and then learn how to solve mysteries in the afternoons.
Adults will also have a chance to get creative. On the Saturday of the festival, adults can learn how to portray the landscape scenes of Manitoba in watercolours. Anyone 16 years of age or older is welcome to attend this class.
Being the 50th birthday, the MHFA is planning some special occasions during the week as well. A birthday barbecue has been planned for the Wednesday; and a birthday celebration wouldn’t be complete without cake!
There will also be a farmer’s market on the Thursday from 4:00 to 6:00 pm. Crafts, garden produce and baking will be for sale, all the while with artists playing live music and doing demonstrations.
The festival is going on from July 4 to July 9 this year. Brochures, which include the registration form and additional information on classes and prices, are available at ArtsForward (formerly Viscount Cultural Centre). The brochure can also be found on their website, www.neepawavcc.ca under the downloads tab.
