Festival by the Marsh is an integrated arts festival featuring high quality theatre and music performances, fine arts displays and demonstrations, other forms of artistic expression, and educational programmes for young people. The flagship event of the 2010 festival will be a two-week run of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.

Download information about becoming a Sponsor!

Press Release For Immediate Release



Juno Winning Folk Singer/Songwriter James Keelaghan at Joey's in Sackville, Friday March 5, 9 p.m.
Only 60 tickets will be sold. Tickets are $20 and are available at Tidewater Books and Joey's in Sackville. Information www.festivalbythemarsh.ca or 364-2179.

The Festival by the Marsh, one of the province’s largest summer festivals, is branching out to present a unique and intimate concert by Juno Award winning folk singer James Keelaghan on Friday, March 5 at 9 p.m. Keelaghan wil be performing at Joey’s on York Street in Sackville, and only 60 tickets will be sold to the concert.

“ We’re very excited to be able to offer this brilliant singer/songwriter in this up-close venue,” said Festival Producer Ron Kelly Spurles. “Keelaghan is a real national treasure, and seeing him in this space, which has been lauded for its warm atmosphere and fine acoustics, should really make it a magical evening.”

Called Canada’s finest singer-songwriter by one of the most respected music journalists of the last 50 years, James Keelaghan is an artist who has proven to be a man for all seasons. For almost a quarter of a century now, this poet laureate of the folk and roots music world has gone about his work with a combination of passion, curiosity intent and intensity.

His masterful story telling has, over the course of nine recordings, been part of the bedrock of his success, earning Keelaghan nominations and awards and acclaim from Australia to Scandinavia. Possessed of an insatiable appetite for finding the next unique story line, Keelaghan forges his pieces with brilliant craftsmanship and monogrammed artistic vision, making him one of the most distinctive and readily identifiable voices on both the Canadian and international singer-songwriter scenes.

His journey has attracted fans of literate and layered songwriting to join him on his artistic expeditions, some of which weave their way through marvellously etched historical stories with underlying universal themes, others of which mine the depths of the soul and the emotional trails of human relations. His songbook has enlightened, enthralled, and been embraced, by audiences around the world.

" I’ve always had the urge to write," says the Calgary native who has been calling Winnipeg home for the past few years. "Some things weren’t being said in the way I wanted to say them, some thing were not being written about at all. That's why I started to write the historical material. That led me to writing my own personal narratives as well.”.

Not only does Keelaghan lay claim to a deep catalogue of timeless originals like Kiri's Piano, Fires of Calais, Cold Missouri Waters, Jenny Bryce, and Hillcrest Mine, he is also a possessive interpreter of outside material, a fine example being his gripping take on Gordon Lightfoot’s epic Canadian Railroad Trilogy from the Lighfoot tribute disc Beautiful.
Admiration and respect for his work amongst his peers is reflected in the words of David Francey who recently stated that “James Keelaghan is a voice in contemporary Canadian songwriting that has helped us define who we are as a people. He writes with great humanity and honesty, with an eye to the past and a vision of the future. He has chronicled his times with powerful and abiding songs, with heart and eyes wide open.”

Terry Wickham, the producer of the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, is one of many longtime admirers of Keelaghan’s music, and he sums up the artist’s appeal by saying, “James has become the complete artist. A brilliant tunesmith who has become one of the most engaging performers of our time. You always know the journey with James is going to be great, you just never know what all the destinations are. That is why the curve on his career continues to rise.”

It was Dave Marsh, the award-winning American music critic and historian who not so long ago stated that James Keelaghan is “Canada’s finest songwriter.” Those few but powerful words of praise say it all about an artist who continues to set the bar at a lofty height.
Tickets (of which there are only 60) are $20, and are available in advance at Tidewater Books and Joey’s Piazza (536-4040) in Sackville. More information about the concert can also be obtained by phoning Festival by the Marsh at (506) 364-2179.

Summer 2010 Musical Theatre Workshop
Middle School Age – July 19 – 24, 2010
High School Age and Over - July 5 – 9, 2010 (please note, there will also likely be a performance (or performances) of the final play for this section during the Festival by the Marsh on July 16, 17 and/or 18)

The Power of Musical Theatre
Instructor: Stacey Merrigan and others TBA

Registration
Early bird before March 1, 2010 - $100
March 1 - May 1, 2010 - $125, after May 1 $150

To register contact festival@mta.ca or phone 364-2179. REGISTRATION IS LIMITED

(also keep a lookout for our musical theatre workshop for ages 5 - 12 in collaboration with the Town of Sackville)

The acts of singing and of acting are as natural as breathing and being alive - and they bring joy and fulfillment to people of all ages, all around the world. We invite you to join us this summer for a week of musical theatre skill learning and performance, geared to performers of high school age and older. Learn about healthy vocal technique, acting and dancing, and perform a role in a reduced version of (a Broadway Musical) in period costume onstage, to be presented as part of the Festival by the Marsh. Share your joy in musical theatre with us this summer!
For further information or details, you may also contact festival@mta.ca or 364-2179

2009 Events:

Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew Centre Stage at Multi-Event Festival by the Marsh

The Festival by the Marsh, one of New Brunswick's largest summer festivals, will be presenting a fully mounted production of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew July 9 - 19 at the Mount Allison Swan Pond in beautiful Sackville New Brunswick. The play runs Thursday to Saturday at 7 p.m., with matinees at 2 p.m. on July 11, 12 and 19, and will be performed rain or shine (rain locations can be found by contacting the Festival or consulting their schedule). The cast of eighteen actors have been dressed in elaborate costumes by designer Sue Rose, and specially designed makeup by artist Emily Jewer. Local artist George Cochrane has created an array of fine 'millinery' and set designer Decima Mitchell will again dress the set with her usual flare and skill. The production is presented by Sackville's Tantramar Pharmacy, and is one of the major events of the two week long festival (running July 7 - 19) which also includes the Marsh Jazz/Blues/World Music Fest, a Writers Fest Day, a Family Day, other theatre presentations, and [...more]

Click here for Full Press Release

Photos(click for full size):

Writers Fest Features Emerging and Nationally Recognized Writers in Sackville July 15

The third annual "Writers Fest Day" will be held at Sackville's Festival by the Marsh on Wednesday, July 15 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. This year's Writers Fest features readings by Joan Clark, Michael Crummey, Marilyn Lerch and Kenzie Robinson at three events, including a chance to meet the writers at a buffet dinner.

The Writers Fest starts at 5 p.m. with "Dining with Writers and Readings" at Cranewood (the historical house/Mount Allison President's home across from the Town Hall) on Main St. Sackville. This event will feature a catered buffet meal, and a chance for writers (including the four featured writers), and people who appreciate writers, to mingle. This event will also feature readings by Marilyn Lerch and Kenzie Robinson. Seating is very limited, and tickets must be bought or reserved in advance. They can be purchased at Tidewater Books in Sackville or reserved by contacting the Festival, and are $7.50 for writers (self-identified) and $12.50 for others. "Dining with Writers and Readings" is sponsored by Mount Allison University.

" We're very excited to have such a great line up of writers this year,' said Festival by the Marsh Artistic Director Ron Kelly Spurles "I'm especially looking forward to the dinner and the chance to interact with the writers close up - it will be a great night."

The author of fifteen books, Joan Clark has won both the Marian Engel Award- for a body of adult fiction- and the Vicky Metfalfe Award -for a body of children's literature. Her work has been short-listed for the Governor General's, the Impac and Commonwealth Awards, and has twice won the Mr. Christie, Geoffrey Bilson and Winterset Awards. In addition to more than a dozen foreign publications, she has given readings and papers in Malaysia, China, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Iceland, England and Scotland, where she was writer-in residence at Edinburgh University. Her most recent adult fiction is An Audience of Chairs ( Knopf); Road to Bliss, a novel for younger readers will be published by Doubleday in September of 2009. A native of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, for the past twenty-five years, Joan Clark has lived in Newfoundland.

Michael Crummey has published half a dozen books, including Hard Light and Salvage (poetry), Flesh and Blood (short stories) and two novels. His first novel, River Thieves, was a national bestseller and was a finalist for the 2001 Giller Prize. His most recent book is The Wreckage, published in 2005. A national bestseller, it was short-listed for the Rogers’ Writer’s Trust Fiction Prize and long-listed for the Dublin IMPAC Literary Award. His work has appeared in The Penguin Book of Canadian Short Stories and in The New Canon: An Anthology of Canadian Poetry. He was the 2007 winner of the Timothy Findley Award, given to a Canadian writer at mid-career to honour a significant body of work. He lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Michael Crummey was born and raised in Newfoundland.

After moving to Sackville, having taught high school English and Humanities in Washington, D.C. for twenty-four years, Marilyn Lerch helped form the Sackville Writers Group and later the Roving Poets which took poetry to the people. She has also committed Randon Acts of Poetry and given creative writing workshops at Springhill, Dorchester and Westmoreland Correctional Institutions. Her latest collection of poetry, "Witness and Resist" was published by Morgaine House in 2008. Previously, "Moon Loves Its Light" came out in 2004 and "Lambs & LLamas, Ewes & Me" in 200l.

Marilyn is serving as president of the Writers Federation of New Brunswick and helped edit the forthcoming book, "Breaking the Word Barrier: Stories of Adults Learning to Read" to be published by Goose Lane.

Kenzie Robinson is a young prize winning poet from Sackville who is quickly gaining a reputation as someone to watch in the literary world.

The Festival by the Marsh Writers Fest Day is sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts, Mount Allison University, and Tidewater Books. More information on Writers Fest Day, or any of the Festival by the Marsh events, can be found at their website www.festivalbythemarsh.ca or by phoning (506) 364-2179 or toll-free 1-866-890-6329.



Photos from our 2008 production of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest