The festival.

When the festival happens.

• November 15, 2026Registration opens
• January 15, 2027Registration closes
• February 28 to March 11, 2027Festival
• February 28 and March 3 to 6Dance
• March 1 to 9Music, with dates varying by category
• March, date to be announcedSpeech and Drama
• March 11, 2027Gala Awards Night

Every date is on the events page. See the registration cycle for the full annual rhythm from entries opening to the festival running.

2027 entry materials.

Read the complete web version or download the original PDF for each discipline.

Where the festival happens.

The 2027 Dance classes and Gala Awards Night are at the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre. Music venue assignments are published with the schedule. The Speech and Drama venue is still to be announced.

Adjudication is part of the festival.

Competitive and non-competitive entries receive adjudication, but marks, placement, award, and Provincial eligibility depend on the class. Adjudicator comments are not published publicly without explicit student and parent consent.

The Gala.

The Gala Awards Night closes the festival. For 2027 it runs March 11 at the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre. The 2026 Gala was held at Trinity United Church.

Adjudicators decide the marks, the awards, and the scholarships. The Gala lineup is the one thing they do not choose. We look for a spread of performers across teachers and studios rather than filling the night from one studio, and we work around who is available. Many invitations go to scholarship winners and provincial candidates.

A member festival.

VPAF is an official member festival of Performing Arts BC. The BC Provincial Festival is the provincial-level event of Performing Arts BC, open to performers between the ages of 10 and 24 who are recommended by their regional festival. The five-day event includes adjudication, master classes, lectures, coaching, workshops, and technique classes. Location rotates between BC member communities.

Each regional festival may send one competitor per category per age group, with allowances for additional competitors based on prior-year entry counts. Regional festivals may send any number of merited participants.