In closing down the Shelter Valley Folk Festival organization, a home was needed for the $10,000 remaining cash of the registered charity. In an email today, the remaining organizers of the festival announced that this money would go to the Sounds of the Next Generation (S.O.N.G.) organization whose “charitable objects are very much in line with the festival’s.” The Festival started in 2004 and while it was operating, it was quite popular with fans coming from a distance. The fifteen or so performers were generally very good but after a spat in 2015 with the Henkels who owned the land where the Festival was held, there was a lot of turmoil and eventually the Festival had to close down due to money problems.
See the report from last June in the Links below – at right is a photo from better days.
So the 2017 event was the last one – the email today announced:
It was with hearts full of gratitude that the Shelter Valley Folk Festival Board representative Deborah Hackett, and Artistic Director Lesley Marie Boileau completed our final charitable act as an organization.
It was the unanimous decision of the SVFF Board of Directors to donate the financial proceeds of our organization to Sounds of the Next Generation, a local charity which charitable objects that very much are in line with the festivals.
Sounds of the Next Generation (SONG) is a free, socially inclusive choral and orchestral after-school music program for under-served children and youth in Northumberland County. Inspired by el Sistema, SONG promotes social development through the pursuit of musical excellence.
We feel humbled that the Board of SONG has chosen to use our gift of $10,000 over the next 5 years to support their ‘Artists in the Classroom’ project, as a legacy honouring the work of Shelter Valley Folk Festival to influence the children of Northumberland County for good.
See the full email in the links below.
Links
- Email from Shelter Valley Folk Festival Board
- Is this the last year for the Shelter Valley Folk Festival? – 15 June 2017 with update on July 28, 2017: “A SVFF Newsletter on July 28 confirmed that the 2017 festival will be the last one.”
- Photo Galley of 2011 Festival
Print Article:
Where have all the flowers gone?
Congratulations to the Board of Shelter Valley Folk Festival for the gift of $ 10K to SONG from their remaining cash. While I am not affiliated with SONG, I did get to know more about them two years ago while I was assisting a friend to assess and find appropriate/deserving “homes” for several violins in her possesion; SONG was one of them.