The deadline to enter the Southeastern Manitoba Festival is coming up this Thursday, December 1st. 

Executive Melissa Taylor says she, and the volunteers apart of SEMF, are looking forward to having the festival again this year.

“The anticipation is huge, and we are just so excited to bring the festival back to town,” she says. “We are back at some of our favorite old venues, and we are just beyond excited to run a full-functioning festival." 

Taylor says the festival is a great experience and you can gain a lot from it. 

"Number one is just confidence, to get up and perform something you've worked so hard on,” she says. “People applaud for you and encourage you, and that is so huge for an artist and a musician.” 

It’s also a great opportunity to grow. 

“Like to learn new situations and new skills and all that stuff, to just make you a stronger, better, more accomplished person.” 

She notes there is a lack of opportunities in the arts, and there are many great artists and musicians in Steinbach and surrounding communities. 

“This is kind of our big opportunity, and so we want to just take advantage of it and have as many participants come out and enjoy the festival with us, even if you just want to watch,” she says. “We love having people come and just watch and encourage all of our performers.”   

Taylor notes that even though the festival starts in late February, their deadline to enter is coming up quickly. 

"So if you have a child, you have a student, even some young adults in your life who are musical and have been waiting for an opportunity to get back into things, all of our application forms and things like that are on our website.” 

Once the forms are filled out, remember to drop them off at the Steinbach Arts Council before the deadline. 

She notes the SEMF is currently a few members short. 

“If you love the arts and you have a bit of spare time and would love to be a part of a nice community, we'd love to have you.”  

The festival will start at the end of February and continue on through the month of March. 

The categories for this year are Vocal, Strings/Instrumental, Piano (Junior & Senior), Musical Theatre, Speech/Theatre Arts, and Choral. 


with files from Michelle Sawatzky

 

Please note there will be no Guitar Festival in 2023, and SEMF will no longer be running the Dance Festival.  

To stay up to date on all the details regarding dates and times for SEMF, visit semf.ca. Here is the current information they have available: 

 

Vocal 

Dates: Monday to Thursday, February 20 to 23, 2023 
Location:  Evangelical Fellowship Church 
Adjudicator:  Melissa Wood 

Strings/Instrumental 

Dates: Saturday, March 11, 2023 
Location: Steinbach Arts Centre 
Adjudicator:  Oleg Pokhanovski 

Senior Piano 

Dates: Sunday to Wednesday, March 12 to 15, 2023 

Junior Piano 

Dates: Tuesday to Saturday, February 28 to March 4, 2023 
Adjudicator:  Tracey Regier Sawatzky 

Musical Theatre 

Dates: Tuesday to Thursday, March 7 to 9, 2023 

Choral 

Dates: Wednesday, March 8 & Friday, March 17 
Location: Steinbach EMC Church, Main St. 
Adjudicator: Elroy Friesen