On January 6, 2012 different patrons of the American Corner, and those interested in English language and American culture gathered at the Perm Krai Gorky Library to celebrate winter holidays. The Annual Music Contest "Singing Winter" has long served as our brand fest, so we kept the tradition launched by previous AC coordinators and did our best to meet our patrons’ expectations. Several schools and one higher institutions wished to perform in 2012.

The Jury Board included AC Coordinator Andrei Khokhryakov and our American volunteers Robert Bates and Elizabeth Williams. The Board gave comments on each number, and performed four songs on their own – singing and playing the guitar and mandolin live, bringing the mood to the audience. AC Staff also prepared the multimedia-presentation on various US winter holidays, including Christmas, New Year’s Day, Yule, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, Eid El-Adha and Chinese(Oriental) New Year.

Yekaterina Sitnikova, AC Coordinator made a weighty contribution by putting applications & fest logistics in perfect order –done beforehand, and shooting the video while the contest took place.

Our video report might be found at the YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/AmCornerPerm

Prizes were funded by the Project Harmony grant and chosen exclusively by the AC Staff. All the participants shared friendly approach and holiday mood, some showing an impressive touch of professionalism and even personal ability to write music!

Below is the list of the “Singing Winter” Festival prize winners:

1st prize – Svetlana Burangulova from the Perm State Agricultural Academy
Song performed: Once Upon A December

2nd prize – Yana Revkova, Irina Sitnikova, Valeriya Sergienko from the School #25
Song performed: Last Christmas

2nd prize – Oleg Yakovlev from the Perm State College of Commerce and Technology
Song performed: Winter Wonderland

3rd prize – Gumnasium #3
Songs performed: It's Christmas Time, Listen To Your Heart, Beautiful Christmas, Once Upon A December

We all – the American Corner Staff and our American volunteers hope that the Singing Winter Festival boosted creative approach to learning the English language and variety of cultural traditions in the US. We wish our patrons inspiration and fruitful year 2012! Season's greetings to all of our friends!