Rotary Club of Huntley presents community variety show to support Huntley High School scholarships
HUNTLEY – Residents with a knack for demonstrating their unique talents may want to consider submitting their act to be featured in the second annual Huntley’s Got Talent community variety show. Presented by the Rotary Club of Huntley and hosted by the Master of Ceremonies and magician extraordinaire, Marlowe Middle School Principal Tony Venetico, all proceeds from the show will be used to support Huntley High School scholarships.
Huntley Rotary Club President Tetyana Torzhevska explained how the club already utilized a concert performance fundraiser to benefit the Rotary’s Polio Plus program, which works to eradicate polio around the world. With the aid of Venetico, the club was able to add a second performance fundraiser, only instead of limiting participation to just professional musicians, this show would welcome anyone from the community to perform.
“We’re open to anything and this year, it’s really challenging because, you know, all concert halls, opera, symphony, everything is closed and everybody works virtually now which is more difficult for musicians. But we have to adjust with reality. So, this year we’re doing it virtually and we hope to see different types of talents,” Torzhevska said.
Anything from magic tricks to dance performances are welcomed talents to be entered.
“Last year, it was a really interesting show. We didn’t expect the [acts] we saw [because] we didn’t know what [they] would be, but it was really nice. We had dance groups and bands and theme girls and instrument performers and different types [of performances] and even actors, also. We were really surprised to see how many people were interested. So, this year we hope to have the same or maybe even better,” Torzhevska said.
Though as Torzhevska mentioned, because of the ongoing pandemic, this year’s variety show will be held virtually which requires those interested in entering their act, to submit a video of their performance to [email protected].
Originally, interested participants had until January 15 to enter, but that deadline has since been extended to Jan 30 to account for the longer time it may take performers to submit a high-quality video.
Which speaking of video quality, that has been among one of the challenges of holding the variety show virtually, according to Torzhevska.
“We tried to give guidelines because we received a couple of videos with obviously talented people, but the quality of the videos, it’s not quite on the level that you can show in the concert, like stream it. This year, you know, we cannot welcome every video because we don’t have special [software to edit the videos]. We would like to receive videos that are ready for the performance,” she said. “Some are done really well. It’s done almost, I would say professionally. You would be surprised if you saw it. It’s really nice. I don’t want to give away any secrets here, but we have quite a few really, really nice high-level professional videos.”
The variety show will be streamed Feb 13 on Facebook, YouTube, and the Huntley Rotary Club’s website at HuntleyRotary.org where viewers will have the opportunity to donate money that will be used to help further the education of Huntley High School students.
Torzhevska stated that despite the setbacks handed to the club because of the pandemic, they are determined to raise at least a little bit of money for deserving students.
“It could be any amount because we understand that everybody has different financial positions right now. Especially because, you know, the pandemic hit many people. So, even if it’s $2, $1, $5 we will be very appreciative,” she said.
As for how the Rotary Club of Huntley is faring during these difficult times, Torzhevska can only express gratitude for continuing to being able to meet other members with a little help from technology. The club has adopted a hybrid style of meeting both in person and through Zoom, to accommodate members’ preferences so as to continue to do their work as an organization.
Huntley’s Got Talent is expected to stream for about an hour and will try to fit everyone that submitted a video so as to not exclude any of the talented individuals that entered. Torzhevska also noted that the show is not exclusive to only Huntley residents. Anyone from any nearby surrounding areas, are welcomed to enter.
Unlike America’s Got Talent, the show for which the Rotary Club of Huntley took its namesake from, for their fundraiser, there are no contestant winners. As previously stated, any funds donated will go towards a scholarship given to Huntley High school students that demonstrate a high degree of community involvement.
Torzhevska stated that the scholarship can range anywhere from $500 to $1,000 depending on how much is donated.
As a music professional herself, Torzhevska hopes to get the word out to as many people as possible, including Sun City which Torzhevska admits to having been blown away by some of the shows put on in the past, by residents.
“I hope to see more talents, we still have time. Until the end of January and [we] just [want] to welcome people to watch this. Please watch this concert. You will see our talents of Huntley,” she said.
