The Festival of the Arts has a new supporter and we at Spirit of the Hills couldn’t be happier!

Port Hope Friends of Music is the major sponsor of the Festival this year.

“We are delighted to have this opportunity,” says Ken Morden, president of Friends of Music (FOM). “We believe that the Festival of the Arts has the potential to become one of the premier arts events in Northumberland County.”

Spirit of the Hills’ main goal through the Festival is to give members of SOTH and other local arts organizations the opportunity to showcase their diverse work through collaborative events for the community.  

FOTA’s chair, Felicity Sidnell-Reid, says: “The festival committee is thrilled to have the support of Friends of Music. The theme for our festival  in SOTH’s twentieth year is sharing across the arts which we believe is a primary source for the strength of our organization and the Northumberland arts community.”

Port Hope Friends of Music (FOM) is a well-known supporter and presenter of the arts. For over 40 years, FOM presented a wide range of concerts bringing both internationally known and emerging classical and jazz musicians to Port Hope, Cobourg and other locations across Northumberland.  Often, there have been master classes or school-based events accompanying these concerts.  Subscribers provided the backbone of the organization and attendance at FOM’s concerts often exceeded 400 people.

At the end of FOM’s 43rd Season in 2018, the organization suspended its concert presentation model and took stock of the changing environment.  It now has a new direction.

“FOM wants to continue to support and enhance the cultural life of the residents of Northumberland County and we intend to do so by providing financial support and encouragement to arts groups in Northumberland,” says Ken Morden.

“We want to support organizations that have wide appeal to the residents of the county, showcase the wide range of superb artists we have in our county and who also have a musical element in their activities.”

FOM says the Festival of the Arts  is strongly allied with its own mission to “encourage, conduct, arrange and assist in lectures, concerts, …. in music and other cultural, educational and recreational activities.”

SOTH president Susan Statham agrees.  “When two vibrant and like-minded organizations such as Friends of Music and Spirit of the Hills work together toward the goal of sharing across the arts, our success benefits everyone.”  

Ken Morden says collaborating on the Festival is a terrific opportunity to work on delivering the mission of FOM and to help Northumberland “to be known as the Arts County of Ontario; it’s an achievable objective given the wealth of arts talent residing in our community.”