There will be more music at the annual Mission Folk Music Festival this year.

A $12,000 contribution from 2010 Legacies Now, in partnership with the province, will bring an Aboriginal portion to the already popular event.

The project is called People of the River and will feature Aboriginal music, dance and culture of local First Nations and their Aboriginal counterparts across Canada and internationally.

“The Mission Folk Music Festival’s project will introduce local audiences to artists from Aboriginal cultures around the world and across Canada,” said the Festival’s artistic director Francis Xavier Edwards. “Aboriginal cultures span the globe and are part of a vital network of people, languages, values and ideas that challenge modern cultures and offer insights into a different vision of the world, something we desperately need.”

“We want to give this organization the opportunity to create something that will continue on in our community for years to come,” says Maple Ridge-Mission MLA Marc Dalton. “I know that the Mission Folk Music Festival Society will put together an excellent program featuring local First Nations arts and culture that will not only be entertaining but also quite educational.

2010 Legacies Now and the Province encourage and support creative activities through grant programs such as Innovations, which helps arts, cultural and heritage organizations create new opportunities for community members to participate in arts and cultural activities.

Since 2005, the Innovations program has invested a total of $2 million in 195 community projects around the province. In this most recent round of funding, 29 organizations in 14 B.C. communities will share $225,650 in funds. 2010 Legacies Now is committed to increasing community engagement in creative activities, improving the arts and culture sector’s economic base and organizational capacity, and strengthening the sector’s ability to achieve artistic excellence.

2010 Legacies Now is a not-for-profit society that works in partnership with community organizations, non-government organizations, the private sector and all levels of government to develop sustainable legacies in sport and recreation, physical activity, arts, literacy, accessibility and volunteerism. 2010 Legacies Now actively assists communities in discovering and creating inclusive social and economic opportunities leading up to, and beyond, the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

For more details on Innovations, please visit www.2010LegaciesNow.com/Innovations/ or www.2010andBeyond.ca for community stories.