HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen-Blyth Festival 2000, 2000-06-21, Page 47BLYTH FESTIVAL SALUTE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 2000. PAGE 23.
Job offer ended Christine Kemp’s plans for Japan
By Mark Nonkes
Freelance writer
On the day Christine Kemp found
out about the position of Director of
Communications she was accepted
to teach English in Japan.
Kemp and her husband, who
recently moved to Clinton, travelled
to Japan for five weeks in 1998 and
considered returning to the country
to teach.
But Kemp said she was willing to
give up going to Japan because
working at the Festival as Director of
Communications was the perfect
match of her interests.
“This position came up very
quickly.”
Kemp grew up in Clinton and
graduated from the University of
Guelph in 1997.
To finish two courses for her
degree Kemp went to Victoria, B.C.
where relatives live. Although she
finished the courses that summer
Kemp stayed in BC for two years.Christine Kemp
In the fall of
1998 Kemp
and her
husband
visited family
in Clinton and
decided to
stay.
“Our rel
atives are sick
of shipping
stuff across
the country."
For close to
two months, Kemp has been
working as Director of Commun
ications.
Kemp has always enjoyed
theatre, but as a spectator. She
remembers seeing shows at the
Festival as a child and being part of
a week long youth workshop.
Crossing the line into the
administration side of theatre has
been exciting for Kemp. She’s in
charge of publicizing shows and
coming events at the theatre.
“The bigger part of my job is
developing relationships with the'
audience, company and media.”
Kemp said there is a lot of work
involved in preparing for the season.
“Since I’ve started working here
the whole Japan thing is so far away
from my mind,” Kemp said while
wearing a shirt with a Japanese print
on it.
Sydney comes ‘home ’ to Goderich
Special events and promotions Although Anderson had never
heard of Huron County
before, when she decided to
move to Goderich to be
closer to her boyfriend in
1998 she found out that she
had family roots
Anderson’s
grandfather grew
Goderich before he
to Manitoba in the 1880s.
“I think it is really funny
that I’ve come back.”
Anderson married shortly
after the move to Goderich.
co-ordinator Sydney
Anderson describes the
southern Manitoba town she
grew up in like Blyth.
“In my class we had 20
kids and
everybody.”
Anderson
agricultural
population of 700 people in
Treheme, Manitoba.
In 1997 Anderson
graduated from Brandon
University near the Saskatchewan
border in Manitoba.
At university she met her
husband-to-be who was from
Goderich.
we knew
grew up in an
town with a
Sydney
Anderson
there,
great-,
up in
moved
Anderson worked at four jobs
and took part-time courses at Kings
College in London before her
employment with the Festival.
“I love it. It’s really fast paced
and you do something different
every day. You don’t have time to
get bored,” Anderson said about her
job.
Anderson said marketing the
festival will be challenging.
“The Blyth Festival is the best
hidden secret in Huron County.”
And Anderson hopes to change
that. — MN
Thanks to The Blyth Festival for providing
great entertainment for the past 25 years.
Mac| ampbell • WEDDINGS,
hotography
• PORTRAITS,
• FAMILIES,
•ANNIVERSARIES
34 Newgate St.,
Goderich, ON
N7A lPl
•AERIAL
Nova
during
two
she
Leslie
Empringham
Box office skills
help Leslie get
around
Over the last
five years Box
Office Manager
Leslie Empring
ham has gone to
school in
Scotia and
the last
summers
worked in the box
office of the
Atlantic Theatre
Festival in Nova Scotia.
This fall Empringham moved
back to Ingersoll where she grew up
and became the Box Office
Manager at the Blyth Festival.
“It’s a great atmosphere, we all
have 'the same goals, we want a
successful season.”
Empringham went to school for
nutrition at Acadia University.
“I didn’t know anybody...so I
had to make my own friends and I
had to solve my own problems.”
Empringham originally went to
university for physics but switched
to nutrition after her first year.
However, Empringham said the
nutrition degree is not very useful.
“There’s not a lot I can do with
it.”
In November, Empringham got
the position of Box Office Manager
and lived in Blyth with Jean
Nethery and went home on
weekends. Now she lives in Clinton
and goes home the weekends she
doesn’t work.
Patrons may notice a new
computer system when booking
tickets. Empringham was the first
person to be taught to use the
system and also trained others on it.
Empringham hopes to remain at
the festival for quite a while and
also hopes to return to Nova Scotia
and take some more university
courses in the future.
Create the Garden
of your Dreams!
FT*"A.,.
Nature-floral, leafy, colourful and
musical. It can appear wild or be
brought tq^our homes, tamed and
picturesque.
Maitland Manor Nursery, owned by
Don Henry, provides visitors with a
chance to see the blending of trees,
flowers, butterflies and birds that
gardeners try to achieve.
Twenty-five acres of nursery house
perennials, shrubs, trees and all other
landscaping needs. There are also
many roadside display gardens
including ornamental grasses, lilies,
ferns, irises, shade & hosta displays.
The nursery is open seven days a
week, and you are invited to come in and just enjoy the surroundings. Enveloped by a
profusion of colour, you can relax, inhaling the heady perfume, while a frog serenades from
a pond's lilypad. Birds add their voices to chorus from branches in the greenery, while
butterflies and bees dance from petal to petal.
For those who find greater harmony in more natural surroundings, Don has established
trails along the Maitland River for tourists. There is about one mile of pathway that winds
its way through trees and the river flats, groupings of native trees, shrubs and perennials.
Visit Maitland Manor Nursery
A Unique Garden Experience In The Country!
25 acres of perennials, shrubs, flowering shrubs, vines, Old English roses,
David Austin roses, ornamental grasses, etc., etc.
Shade Gardens, Rock Gardens, Ponds, Alpine Gardens
For ticket information
call the Blyth Festival
Box Office
523-9300
or 1-877-862-5984
MAITLAND MANOR NURSERY
& LANDSCAPING
just east of Bluevale on Hwy. #86 (519) 335-3240
www.maitlandmanor.com