51st annual MBA Family of Festivals Level One Band Festivals celebrate thousands of students music, sharing, and learning music together in Winnipeg and Brandon

This week in Winnipeg and next week in Brandon the Manitoba Band Association (MBA) Family of Festivals Level One Band Festivals welcome more than 5,300 younger band students. In total 104 concert bands and nearly 5,300 students will share music, learn, and grow through what is for many their very first band festival experience.

The MBA Family of Festivals, which began in February and runs over a total of 15 days through June 7, 2026, is one of the largest of its kind in Western Canada. The Family of Festivals concludes in early June with a non-competitive and non-adjudicated Community Band Festival June 6 – 7 at beautiful Coronation Park in Winnipeg.

Donations Encouraged in Support of Main Street Project

We are encouraging festival-goers to bring donations of new and gently used adult clothing and toiletries in support of Main Street Project, who lost their entire inventory of supplies when the Manwin Hotel burned down this winter. This campaign is being organized the 2026 Leadership Winnipeg cohort that our Executive Director, Brent Johnson, is participating in this year – a program jointly offered by The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce and Volunteer Manitoba.

Celebrating National Volunteer Week

Volunteers are the heartbeat of our Family of Festivals, and we could not provide these experiences or keep them so accessible without their support. Everywhere you turn, there is a friendly human helping and not only ensuring our festivals run smoothly and on time, but helping ensure these are positive, educational experiences for the thousands of young band students and hundreds of music educators who participate in them. Thank you to all of our amazing volunteers!

Festival Program & Schedule

The full digital program & festival schedule can be viewed online here.

Winnipeg: April 21 – 24, 2026 (9am – 4:30pm daily) at My Church Winnipeg (955 Wilkes Ave)

Brandon: April 28 (1pm – 4pm) & 29 (9am – 4pm) at the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium and the Brandon University School of Music

Clinicians

Each band will work with up to three clinicians, providing them feedback, encouragement, next-steps, and encouragement to continue their journey as young musicians. Each Band receives written and recorded feedback during their performance, and then a live post-performance workshop with one clinician, and their experience concludes with a third clinician providing a band basics workshop, reinforcing important fundamentals that are so critical at these early stages of musical growth.

Family of Festivals Full Overview

The Manitoba Band Association (MBA) Family of Festivals (formerly the Optimist International Band Festival) have been a Manitoba tradition since 1976 and is growing this year to include the Concert Band Festival, Jazz Band Festival, the Level One Band Festivals in both Winnipeg and Brandon, and a Community Band Festival. These educational, non-competitive experiences are designed to celebrate music-making, community, and promote students’ and community members’ growth & development through a long-standing culture of positivity and encouragement. Bands come to share, learn, grow, and support each other and they leave these festival experiences inspired, energized and ready for more.

Building on the success of our 2025 festivals, we are excited to be sustaining growth in several areas of our 2026 Family of Festivals:

1. The Concert Band Festival experienced nearly 30% growth in participation in 2025 necessitating the addition of a third performance stage at RBC Convention Centre. This year the size of several bands has outgrown available facilities in the traditional format, and an alternative festival flow is being implemented on Friday to accommodate these large ensembles of up to 150 students meaning this year’s festival will be even more exciting with more students involved and engaged with these experiences.

2. To accommodate more bands at the Level One Festival in Winnipeg, and bands that have grown too large for the stage at My Church, we are adding a full additional day with an alternative use of space and festival flow to ensure all bands and students can have this experience without having to limit how many musicians can take part.

3. To accommodate growth in participation at the Brandon-based Level One Festival, we continuing the addition of a second festival day taking place at the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium and Brandon University School of Music and made possible in part thanks to funding from the Brandon Area Community Foundation.

4. For the 2nd year, a Community Band Festival at beautiful Coronation Park in Winnipeg celebrates lifelong music-making and encourages students and adults alike to engage with lifelong music-making.

These additions and expansions will ensure that no one is left behind and that hundreds more students, educators, and community musicians can have an MBA Family of Festivals experience in 2026 that will stay with them for a lifetime.

Digital Festival Program

Continuing our commitment to environmental sustainability, the Family of Festivals digital program featuring adjudicator and clinician bios, and the full festival schedule is available in an improved format:

https://www.mbband.org/family-of-festivals/festival-programs

Full Festival Dates & Locations:

Concert Band Festival: February 17-20, 2026 at the RBC Convention Centre
Jazz Band Festival: March 5 & 6, 2026 at Centre culturel franco-manitobain
Level One Winnipeg Festival: April 21 – 24, 2026 at My Church Winnipeg
Level One Brandon Festival: April 28 & 29, 2026 at Brandon University & Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium
Community Band Festival: June 6 – 7, 2026 at Coronation Park in Winnipeg