Our guest speaker today was Delynne Lorentzen, the Executive Director of the Rotary Music Festival. She joined us remotely, through a YouTube video she had created to demonstrate the value of music and the festival to our youth and to the community. Delynne started by thanking the Rotary Club for their sponsorship of the last 65 years, the longest continuous sponsorship of a Festival in Alberta and definitely something to be proud of.
Delynne wanted to demonstrate her top seven reasons for support of the Festival.
- Festival provides an opportunity for kids who are otherwise marginalized.
- Music makes kids smarter.
- Music teaches kids discipline, creativity and builds confidence.
- Music keeps kids out of trouble.
- Music reduces mental health issues.
- Music gives back to the community.
- Music creates good citizens and successful adults.
Her video presentation can be found on YouTube at the following link.
Both Milan Vujovic and Don Davis added thanks to Delynne for all her hard work and provided some updates on the planning around this years festival. With COVID to contend with, several scenario's are being planned for and alterations to the way the programs are handled and what programs are available are certainly in the works.