With one month to go, organizers of this year's Southeast Manitoba Festival (SEMF) say they are excited to be hosting in-person performances once again.

Sharon Guenther, President of SEMF says, they are pleased that everything seems to be working out. 

“The plan that we've had, is still in place. We planned an in-person festival this year, in such a way that we are able to follow all the regulations and still include guests, so that's great!”

Guenther explains that the committee decided that in order to have the allowed number of people in one room, they needed to organize the disciplines so that each class would have 10 competitors. Then, each one would be allowed to bring one parent or spectator into the room. And then, says Guenther, “we can have a few accompanists if we need, and the adjudicator and adjudicator secretary. We're allowed 25 people in the room. We can separate everybody nicely, because we are in a large room. It'll work very well.”

With the 2020 SEMF cut short, and the 2021 festival cancelled, Guenther says they were quite encouraged by the number of entries that came in. “Of course, our festival is not as big as it has been in the past. But disciplines like junior piano will still be four days because of the way we have to schedule it.“

She continues and says, "we also have enough entries this year, to host two days of vocal competition, three days for musical theatre as well as, strings and senior piano."

Guenther says, she’s heard back from teachers who are encouraged about the return of the festival. “We're very excited. We want to give the performers an opportunity to have a goal to work towards, to have a place to show off what they've learned but also to learn from the adjudicators and be encouraged. And yeah, to encourage the arts in our community.”