The 67th Kiwanis Music Festival will soon be upon us. We are excited for our participants who will be performing in one (or more) of our diverse array of classes. We also look forward to hosting the annual Rose Bowl competition and Young-Ja Park Memorial Piano Competition.

We continue to seek feedback via surveys from the music educators across the London Music Community who teach in various settings. Your feedback contributes to our goal of strengthening the experiences for each of the participants. One specific this year question aimed to seek feedback about the suspension of awarding solo trophies for the 2026 Festival. Based on that feedback, the board, after much deliberation, chose to suspend awarding solo trophies for the 2027 Festival, thus, not to offer Solo Trophy classes and to seek further feedback post the 2027 Festival. All regular solo classes will proceed as usual but the solo trophy classes generated by them will not be offered for the 2027 Kiwanis Music Festival. We thank you for your understanding and continue to welcome your thoughts and insights as we continue to deliberate.

Our volunteers continue to be the driving force that enables the festival to occur. They include hall managers, adjudicators' assistants, door greeters, and those who perform multiple tasks behind the scenes across multiple aspects of the festival. The Festival's Board of Directors, as a volunteer group, dedicate their time and areas of expertise throughout the year and during the Festival. The Festival Administrator, Charlotte Cleland, continues to be the backbone of the Festival and her continuing knowledge and insights are invaluable.

We continue to strive for and maintain a balanced budget, and in response to that responsibility we thank our current sponsors and advertisers, and welcome new ones. We continue to seek new awards to support students' music education and thank those who offer one-time awards and have established endowed ones. We regularly receive thank you cards from the various awardees who express their deep appreciation for such support.

We are looking forward to your participation in the upcoming 67th Festival, whether it is as a performer, an audience member, and/or a volunteer. Do reach out to me about ideas, concerns, opportunities, and challenges.

Betty Anne Younker, Chair, Board of Directors
bettyanneyounker@gmail.com