Salt Spring Arts Council & The Salt Spring Chamber Of Commerce - in partnership with Salt Spring Exchange - happily present the 3rd Convergence Festival in downtown Ganges on Friday, September 20th, 2024 - a free, single-day festival produced by Tommy van Deursen, Mateada’s Artistic Director since 2021.

Convergence Festival takes place at the location where the inter-island tidal river reaches the Ganges harbour. This is a location where wildly diverse and rich ecological life converges - hence the dual meaning of the event name. The day-long event is a free, family friendly festival that encourages our local community to gather and connect after the bustle of the tourism season subsides. Convergence aims to celebrate local creative talent, build community cohesion, and inspire engagement and investment in community impact throughout the coming year.

A line-up of brilliant local musicians will be taking the stage between 1pm - 10pm. In order of appearance:

• A selection of compositions from the GISS Music Program, starting our day at 1pm

• A rockin’ set of music from Sugarbeat

• The long-form grooves and heartfelt lyrics of Hilltop Pranksters

• A soulful deep-dive with Sophia Danai + Safiya Labelle

• Upbeat funk etc with Woodland ft. Yael Wand + Phöenix Lazare

• Classic rock and beautiful psych etc from The Dang Package

• A Modern take on classic new wave with Drama Queen

• The hard-touring yet locally based sextet Small Town Artillery Collective to close us down
  

Besides a full day of great music, we also get a chance to say our goodbyes - Convergence is sadly the end of Mateada but it’s also the beginning of a new chapter in the support for local performing arts and music on salt spring. It can’t happen without your support. An on-site presence from Salt Spring Arts, The Chamber and SGITP will be activated, featuring a kids & craft zone, the Gulf Island Events Calender, and we encourage you to head over to the “community tent” to get involved and share how you could contribute - let’s dream up the future together!

The Mateada itself will serve as the licensed area for this event. You will need 2 pieces of Government issued ID to get in, and a limited drink menu will be available for purchase! Outside in the event grounds, Mateada’s kitchen crew will be serving a limited menu also for purchase - featuring Choripan, Arepas & Chipas, with both veggie and meat options. You’ll need to purchase food tickets from Mateada and take them out to get some grub!

The parking lot immediately outside the Mateada will be foot traffic only for the entire day of September 20th, however the larger parking lot beside Salt Spring Coffee will remain open for vehicles. 

This event takes place on the un-surrendered and sovereign lands of the Hul'qumi'num and SENĆOŦEN speaking peoples, including the Quw'utsun First Nation and Tsawout First Nation.

Convergence was dreamed up by Tommy van Deursen in 2022 + 2023, and was funded by Guayaki Yerba Mate Co. This year, many local businesses are stepping up to make this free & for the community event possible. Presented by The Chamber + Salt Spring Arts Council in Partnership with Salt Spring Exchange. We need to give a massive thank you to additional support from Cassette, Salty Pay, Gulf Island Events / The SGITP, The Philip + Muriel Berman Foundation.

We look forward to seeing you on Sept 20th!