Harrison Festival of the Arts
A Brief History

The legacy that is today an internationally acclaimed celebration of arts & culture began with no less vision or grassroots tenacity.

 
Originally an initiative to showcase the vibrant arts community of the Agassiz-Harrison area, the first Harrison Festival of the Arts was organized and executed in the summer of 1979.

 

Despite financial hardships in the early years, organizers pressed on and in 1985 emerged strong and unrelenting with the first themed Festival celebrating Japanese art & music.

 

The next few years saw similar culturally themed Festivals with 1987 featuring an African theme and the first ever international performers and artists. 

 

In 1988 the Festival hit its stride, quadrupling its budget and becoming its own separate award winning society. 

 

Since then the Festival has evolved beyond ethnically themed entertainment to effective advocacy for sharing and embracing minority cultures and reflecting the unique diversity of Canadian society through the arts.

 

Known world wide for its professional artistry and small town hospitality, the Festival is and will remain a beacon for growing acceptance of diversity and purpose fueled arts programming.