By Kristina Lanuza and Hari Menon
Create Kids Fest is an event taking place in Calgary that aims to bring the magic of the arts to children and inspire them to do more than what they believe they can do. By allowing kids to interact with multiple artists who are masters at their craft, children can experience the performing and visual arts in a way that they can relate to. This June 13, the event moves online to both Zoom and Facebook Live. Organizer and children's performer Mandy Morris hopes that kids will truly enjoy Create Kid’s Fest and that they get some quality family time in by participating. Create Kids Festival is a pretty new non profit organization dedicated to helping kids grow together, bond and help them grow as an artistic community. The organization performs several workshops, helps kids engage with artists, and ensures that kids have fun. “Calgary lost the International Children’s Festival in 2019 -- 2018 was their last year and it just made me really sad because I see what arts can do for kids and I see how important those live experiences are, so we’ve decided last year to just do it ourselves and be good,” said Morris. This year’s online events include storyteller Eli Smart, Juno-nominated children’s artist Beppie, mask making with the Green Fools and a family dance with Puddle of Mud Productions. One of the artists collaborating on this year’s event is Catilynne Mendrek from YYC Princess, a Calgary based company that hosts events for young boys and girls with real-life fairytale princesses. Their goal is to empower children by engaging them in hands-on interactive events, showing that girls don’t have to be seen as weak or frail, and empowering them to be their own ‘Prince Charming’s. “Create Kids Fest is a whole new festival full of tons and tons of art mediums and creators and collaborators and artists all coming together and giving a really beautiful festival to the City of Calgary and to the kids in the city who need a little magic in their summer and springtime.” - Caitlynne Medrek, YYC Princess For the Create Kids Fest, Mendrek will be hosting an online virtual paint party with Queen Anna from Disney’s Frozen. Kids who virtually attend will be able to learn how to create a unicorn using supplies that they have at home and they are more than welcome to join even if they don’t have supplies at home. “You don’t need to have paint supplies at home necessarily to join, you can have any tools that you wanna work with. So pencil crayons, crayons, pastels, chalk, whatever you have at home available to you,” said Mendrek. Last year, Create Kids Fest was held over a weekend on the Stampede Grounds and Shelf Life Books, attracting about 200 kids. Due to the impacts of COVID-19 on distancing regulations and social gatherings, Create Kids Fest will not be able to be held in person this year, however, it will be moving to an online platform for kids to still be able to interact and engage with the festival collaborators and artists. Their official festival will be held on June 13th on both Zoom and Facebook Live, bringing many workshops and artistic experiences to children in the comforts of their homes. For more information on the event, feel free to visit https://createkids.ca/ and for more information on YYC Princess, visit https://www.yycprincess.com/ or @YYCPrincess on Facebook and @YYCPrincess_ on Instagram.
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