Kumbaya Festival

Template:Short description Template:More citations needed Template:Infobox music festival The Kumbaya Festival was an annual Canadian music and arts festival in the 1990s.<ref name=switching>"Switching jazz singer Molly Johnson on and off". The Globe and Mail, November 22, 2012.</ref> It was organized by Molly Johnson as a benefit for Canadian charities and groups doing work around HIV and AIDS.<ref name=switching />

The festival was broadcast live on MuchMusic each year, with the broadcast including a toll-free number which home viewers could call to make additional donations.<ref name=fundraiser>"Kumbaya - get bigger, raise more". Canadian Fundraiser, November 27, 1995.</ref> Compilation CDs of performances from the festival were also subsequently released to raise additional funds.<ref name=fundraiser /><ref name=howell>"Kumbaya disc needs more odd couplings". Toronto Star - Toronto, Ont. By Peter Howell and Geoff Chapman Sep 2, 1995 Page: L.8</ref> The festival raised over $1 million during its years of activity.<ref name=switching />

Each annual festival consisted primarily of musical performers, although each also featured numerous writers reading literary pieces, as well as actors, media personalities, HIV/AIDS activists and other Canadian public figures speaking on the importance of the HIV/AIDS issue.

Although the Kumbaya Foundation, the organization which staged the festival, is still active in Canadian and international HIV/AIDS fundraising as of 2014, the festival itself has not been staged since 1996. Johnson has, however, expressed an interest in reviving the festival.<ref name=switching />

Performers and speakers

The lists of participants can be found at the Kumbaya Foundation website.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

External links

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