Privacy Policy
Brandon Festival of the Arts Inc. · Last updated: 27 October 2026
We respect the privacy of the people who participate in and support the Festival. This policy explains how we handle personal information in connection with our website, registrations, activities and administrative services.
1. Who we are
Brandon Festival of the Arts Inc. (“BFA”, “we”, “our” or “the Festival”) is a non-profit cultural organization based in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. We organise performing arts activities, registrations, adjudication, awards and related educational opportunities.
This policy applies to information handled through the Festival website and our related administrative operations. Some third-party services have their own privacy policies.
2. Information we collect
Depending on your involvement with BFA, this may include:
- Accounts and contact details: names, email addresses, usernames and information needed to administer or secure accounts.
- Festival entries: participant and ensemble names, ages or age categories where needed, teachers or representatives, performance classes, repertoire, scheduling details and submitted materials.
- Parents, guardians and teachers: contact or relationship information needed to administer entries involving young participants.
- Festival administration: adjudication-related records, awards, scholarship details, communications and relevant correspondence.
- Payments: entry fees, payment status, transaction references and accounting records. Payment providers may collect additional payment information directly.
- Website operations: login sessions, IP addresses or technical logs when collected for functionality, troubleshooting or security.
We seek to collect only the information reasonably needed for the Festival’s operations and legitimate records.
3. How we use information
We use the information described above to create and administer accounts; receive entries; determine class eligibility; schedule performances; communicate with entrants and their representatives; support adjudication, awards and scholarships; handle payments; respond to enquiries; preserve appropriate Festival history; comply with applicable obligations; and maintain, secure and restore our systems.
We do not sell personal information to advertisers or data brokers.
4. Children and young people
Many Festival participants are children or young people. Parents, guardians or appropriately authorised teachers and representatives should submit information for younger participants and obtain any permissions required for their participation.
We use information about young people for Festival administration and recognition of their performances. We seek to avoid publicly displaying sensitive information, private contact details or payment information. Requests concerning a young person’s information may be raised through our contact page.
5. Public programmes, results and awards
Performing arts festivals publicly acknowledge participation and achievement. BFA may include participant or ensemble names, performance categories, repertoire, results, awards and scholarship recipients in programmes, schedules, announcements or historical records, including online.
Some award and Festival records may remain accessible for historical or archival purposes. We do not intend to publish private contact details, account credentials or individual payment information. If you have a concern about a published record, especially one relating to a child, please contact us.
Photography, audio or video recordings may be governed by additional Festival notices or permissions when applicable.
7. Google Drive backup service
BFA is developing an internal administrative backup service that can store recovery copies of Festival records in a Google Drive account authorised by BFA. This service is not offered to entrants and does not require participants to connect their own Google accounts.
When enabled, the service will use Google’s Drive API to create, list, read and manage backup files and folders created by the service within the authorised account. The intended permission is drive.file, which limits access to files and folders created by the application. We do not use this service to examine unrelated personal Google Drive files, to profile Google account holders or for advertising.
Festival backup contents may include information described in this policy. The intended arrangement is to encrypt backup contents before transferring them off-site, limit access to authorised personnel and retain backup copies under defined recovery schedules. Off-site backup transfers should not be enabled until these protections have been configured and tested.
Google processes stored files and associated service data under its applicable terms and privacy practices. Files may be processed or stored outside Canada. For more about this internal tool, see BFA Database Backups.
8. Security and storage
We use administrative and technical measures intended to reduce the risk of unauthorised access, loss, alteration or disclosure. These may include controlled account access, protected credentials, security logging and database recovery backups.
Access to non-public information should be limited to personnel with a legitimate operational need. No internet-based system or backup method can guarantee absolute security.
9. Retention and deletion
Different records are retained for different purposes. Operational registration records may be needed for later enquiries; financial records may need to be retained for accounting or legal purposes; and Festival results and awards may be retained for historical purposes.
Routine system backups are subject to technical retention schedules. Some archival snapshots may be kept longer for recovery or historical reasons. A record removed from the live website may remain in older protected backups until those copies expire.
We intend to review records and dispose of information when it is no longer reasonably required for legitimate Festival purposes or applicable obligations. This policy does not promise a uniform deletion date for every record.
11. Access, corrections and concerns
You can contact BFA to ask about personal information relating to you, seek correction of inaccurate information or raise a privacy concern. For information about a child, we may require the request to come from an authorised parent or guardian. We may need to verify identity or authority before disclosing private information.
We will consider requests in light of applicable law and relevant administrative, financial, safeguarding and historical obligations. We may not be able to remove records that must be retained for those reasons, but we will explain our response where appropriate.
12. Updates and contact
We may revise this policy when Festival operations, services or legal requirements change. The current version and its revision date will appear on this page, and additional notice may be provided when appropriate.
For privacy questions or requests, contact Brandon Festival of the Arts Inc. through our contact page and indicate that your message concerns privacy.