After many years of construction and renovations at Selkirk College, music program students were finally able to take the stage for the grand opening of the Shambhala Music and Performance Hall.
“We’re happy to have a place for the students to perform. We’re really happy to be a part of it,” said Anna Bundschuh, one of the Shambhala Music Festival’s producers.
The hall held its official opening to donors on Wednesday night with a reception and performances from students and faculty.
An event was also held on Thursday night which was open to the public.
Bundschuh along with her siblings Jimmy Bundschuh and Corrine Zawaduk announced in October of last year that they would be contributing $75,000 to the project.
The donation earned them a permanent place for the Shambhala name at the Selkirk Tenth Street Campus.
“I’m just so touched and amazed,” said festival producer Zawaduk. “The sound quality is amazing. The lights are great. The quality of the performance was outstanding. I’m so pleased. It’s been a long time coming.”
Zawaduk said they had been on tours through the facility throughout the construction and it was great to see the evolution of the space.
“It’s more difficult than you often think to pull off something of this calibre and they’ve done an amazing job,” said Zawaduk. “Good for Selkirk for putting such amazing effort behind their music students.”
The siblings along with their parents Rick and Sue host the Shambhala Music Festival at the family’s Salmo River Ranch in August.
The festival has grown from 500 attendants in 1998 to 10,000 in 2011.
“The community has helped us out so much and it has really been the arts and culture community that has helped us to our success and we really wanted to give back to an institution that is going to help foster the growth of more artists in this community so it seemed like a natural fit for us,” said Zawaduk.
“With Shambhala Music Festival, we’ve always tried to encourage locals to come and play so there has always been then. To see all these bright, amazing, young kids who are going to go off and be famous.”