{"id":37968,"date":"2026-04-16T15:30:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T19:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=37968"},"modified":"2026-04-16T15:30:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T19:30:53","slug":"auditions-now-open-for-annual-aurora-performing-arts-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/auditions-now-open-for-annual-aurora-performing-arts-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Auditions now open for annual Aurora Performing Arts Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you\u2019re a singer, dancer, or actor 17-years-old or younger looking for a local opportunity to shine, audition reels are now being accepted for the annual Aurora Performing Arts Festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set for Saturday, June 13, at Aurora Town Square, talented youth are invited to submit a performance video of between two and four minutes and filmed within the last three months in the fields of singing, dance and drama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Successful applicants will be organized into the following categories: Six and Under; Ages 7 \u2013 9, Ages 10 \u2013 12, and Ages 13 \u2013 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The winner of the 13 \u2013 17 Vocal category will also be crowned Aurora\u2019s 2026 Teen Idol with several opportunities to perform locally over the following 12 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Aurora Performing Arts Festival was first established five years ago in a partnership between the Town of Aurora and Marquee Theatrical Productions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially hosted at Town Park in conjunction with the Aurora Farmers\u2019 Market, the event moved to the Performance Hall at Aurora Town Square last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Event organizers hail the move as a game-changer for the festival as the new venue offers not only top-notch professional equipment, but also eliminates all the variables that come with weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt elevates the experience for these youth,\u201d says Shelley Ware, Special Events Coordinator for the Town of Aurora. \u201cWhen they\u2019re in the Performance Hall, the performer can focus solely on their goal and their objective at that moment. When you\u2019re in Town Park, there are a lot of distractions \u2013 a lot of people moving \u2013 and no matter how focused you are, it does affect your peripheral. It\u2019s a far more controlled environment to enable them to focus easier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adds Marquee founder Sheryl Thomas: \u201cThe professional equipment, the setting, the acoustics and all of that is definitely a lot easier, and it\u2019s a lot more true than performing outside, especially for vocalists. It\u2019s a lot more natural an atmosphere for a performer to perform in a venue like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the Town and Marquee began accepting audition videos at the end of March, they have seen a significant uptake in the opportunity, particularly in the Vocal category. That said, however, Marquee would love to see more aspiring actors put themselves forward for the Performing Arts festival this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cActing is always underrepresented, but it\u2019s so important,\u201d says Thomas. \u201cActing is a base. A performer, even to sing or dance, if you have acting ability it makes your performance even that much stronger because it\u2019s all about telling a story. Dance is telling a story, a song is telling a story. Let me put it this way: when we have two people, and somebody is simply singing the song beautifully but the person up against them is singing the song and connecting well with acting, it shines so much brighter. Acting is a base for all those disciplines and it would be nice to see that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether you\u2019re looking to act, sing a song, or show off your moves, Ware says one tip she\u2019d offer to performers is to \u201cleave everything on the stage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t hold back \u2013 the stage is for you and the spotlight is for you \u2013 don\u2019t leave anything behind,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To register for or learn more about the Aurora Performing Arts Festival, visit aurora.ca\/artsfestival. If you are an individual, business, or organization that would like to support the Festival and its artists, reach out to Sheryl Thomas at sheryl.thomas@marqueetp.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re a singer, dancer, or actor 17-years-old or younger looking for a local opportunity to shine, audition reels are now being accepted for the annual Aurora Performing Arts Festival. Set for Saturday, June 13, at Aurora Town Square, talented youth are invited to submit a performance video of between two and four minutes and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9So","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-20 12:17:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37969,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37968\/revisions\/37969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}