From it’s humble beginning - one afternoon only, which included piano, vocal and speech entries - the Cowichan Music Festival has steadily grown.

The original committee was composed of representatives from each of the then existing Parent-Teacher Associations. This nucleus of people was augmented by other interested community members. The extremely positive reception of the first Festival by the community encouraged the committee to work out a format that would make the Festival an annual event. The growth of the Festival over the ensuing years has seen Dance and Instruments added as competitive disciplines. Within each discipline the categories and classes have been expanded extensively. Together with the aforementioned expansion, the Festival has grown from that one afternoon to twenty nine days of participation culminating in two Gala Recitals - Piano and Vocal/Choral, and our Highlights Concert.

The support of the Community has continued and enthusiastically grown with us. The Festival is the recipient of bursary and scholarship donations from the community. These awards help assist our talented young people in their studies and over the years the Cowichan Music Festival has been able to assist many young people who have gone on to make music, dance and/or speech an integral part of their lives. The Festival is blessed to have many volunteers who bring the Festival to life by assisting as secretaries, entrance cashiers, halls’ supervisors etc. Our entries exceed 1200 and it has become a reality for us to handle over 5,000 participants. Working with our participants is a great pleasure. Please consider becoming a Festival volunteer - ask any executive member.

Festival means ‘a celebration’. To us who work for the Festival it is a time when parents, teachers, family, friends and participants join together to promote, advance, develop and encourage participation in the Performing Arts in our community. We all share together - performing, viewing, listening, learning and growing. The Performing Arts are, indeed, the international language through which which we can effectively and genuinely communicate with one another. The Cowichan Music Festival is dedicated to promoting all facets of the performing and visual arts - a truly enjoyable, uplifting, enriching and rewarding experience.