Music festival showcases CMU talent, honours Dean of Student Life
The Winnipeg Folk Festival was two months ago, but students at CMU are hoping some of the energy from that event will live on at the MPK Folk Festival on Saturday, Sept. 28.
Organized by the Arts & Entertainment Committee from CMU’s Student Council, the MPK Folkfest is a music event that is part of the university’s Fall Festival. Held in the Back 40—a space in the forest behind CMU’s south side—the event features musical performances by CMU students and alumni.
This year’s festival will feature The Riel Gentlemen’s Choir, a men’s choir led by alumnus Jesse Krause; singer-songwriter Jess Dollimont, a Music Therapy student from Medicine Hat, Alta.; Just For the Halibut, a folk band made up of CMU students; singer-songwriter Anna Eileen; and more.
“It’s outside, it’s acoustic, and it feels like an authentic, intimate sharing time,” says Rachel MacEwan, who co-directs the Arts & Entertainment Committee with Anna Bigland-Pritchard. Both are in their fourth year of Music studies at CMU.
“We’re just channeling the [Winnipeg] Folk Fest spirit,” Bigland-Pritchard adds.
The MPK Folkfest has been an annual event at CMU since it was started in 2005 by now-graduates Heather Driedger and Les Friesen. The “MPK” stands for Marilyn Peters-Kliewer, CMU’s Dean of Student Life.
Peters-Kliewer has worked at the university since 1986, predominantly in the Student Life department. She says she recalls the day Driedger and Friesen came into her office, asking her if it was all right if they named their event in her honour.
She says the event makes her feel loved and cared for by the very people she loves and cares for—CMU students.
“It’s a great privilege to develop programs at CMU that will help our students thrive and I really want to encourage students to develop their leadership skills,” Peters-Kliewer says. “This Folkfest does make me feel really special in some ways.”
She adds that past MPK Folkfest performers include Jesse Krause and Bucky Driedger, who have gone on to perform across North America in bands like Flying Fox and the Hunter-Gatherers, and Royal Canoe.
“I think it’s a great event,” Peters-Kliewer say. “It has a beautiful setting in the Back 40, a fantastic atmosphere, and it’s a wonderful way to feature the musical talents of both our current students and alumni.”
For details about this year’s MPK Folkfest, log on to www.cmu.ca/fallfest/schedule.php?s=folkfest or visit the event’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/events/425691870880918.
The Riel Gentlemen's Choir perform their song, "These Big Trees," at the 2012 MPK Folkfest.
Printed from: www.cmu.ca/community/blog/13
