FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Powell River, BC – PRISMA (Pacific Region International Summer Music Association) is proud to announce its 2025 Fellows, recognizing individuals whose dedication has been instrumental to the organization’s success. This year’s honourees – longtime volunteers Sherry Sakamoto and Terry Martyniuk, and recently retired finance director Kim Stokes – were celebrated at PRISMA’s Annual General Meeting on February 26.

“The selection of our fellows is always an exciting moment,” said PRISMA Artistic Director Arthur Arnold, noting that fellows have been inducted annually since 2018, with this year’s recipients bringing the total to 15.

Sherry Sakamoto and Terry Martyniuk

Incoming PRISMA board member Sherry Sakamoto and her husband, Terry Martyniuk, have been passionate supporters of the festival for years, always ready to step in and help wherever needed.

“We can always call on your help, day or night, whether it’s offering advice, moving offices, or setting up tents at PRISMA on the Beach,” said Arnold. “You have been such an inspiration to me, and I’m so glad that our staff thought to give you this fellowship award.”

Sakamoto, reflecting on her deep connection to PRISMA, highlighted the festival’s impact and what it brings to her and so many others in the community.

“These are always the best two weeks of the year,” she said. “I live for this. This classical music is like my soul – I move to it, I live it, I breathe it, I go on journeys – and I’m so grateful that we have this. I think I am PRISMA’s biggest cheerleader.”

Kim Stokes

A founding board member, Kim Stokes has played a vital role in PRISMA’s financial and organizational growth. Arnold, both her husband and longtime colleague, was verklempt as he announced her award.

“PRISMA would not be here without Kim,” he said. “There is no festival without a good financial foundation, and from the very beginning, we have heard that PRISMA was so successful because it had both strong artistic and financial leadership. We have been so lucky for everything you have given.”

Stokes then took the mic to reflect on PRISMA’s early days and its remarkable journey.

“In 2012, six of us sat around a table – Arthur and I, Paul Schachter, John Silver, Brian Balfe, and Pat Gerlach. We weren’t even a board yet, just a working group asking ourselves, ‘Are we really going to do this?’ We each dug into our pockets and committed to $1,300, and there was another corporate donation… We started with $10,000 and couldn’t hire anybody, so we worked really hard.”

As PRISMA’s budget expanded, so too did its team of staff and contractors – allowing Stokes, by the end of 2024, to fully step away knowing the organization was in capable hands.

“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to do this and I think when you put your energy and your heart into an organization like this, you hope that one day you will be redundant, and I am really excited that PRISMA can fly without me and that I am redundant,” she explained. “I appreciate all of you. I know that in those early days so many of you put your shoulder under PRISMA and you trusted us with your donations and you trusted us with sponsorships… I love that we took this on together, so thank you.”

For more information about PRISMA’s fellows, visit prismafestival.com/organization/fellows.