Ottawa festivals applaud 'critical' funding from province
Ontario announced one-time investment of $50M for province's festivals this week
Ottawa's festival organizers say a cash infusion from the provincial government will pave the way for a revival of major musical and cultural events in the region.
The Ontario government promised $5.7 million in funding this week — more than five times the amount the province gave Ottawa festivals last year — that festivals say will help them restart safely, bring back artists, and build on virtual projects developed during the pandemic.
According to organizers, it may just turn around a long bleak spell that saw festival fields and concert halls fall silent.
Bluesfest and CityFolk director Mark Monahan says this "unprecedented investment" will jumpstart the recovery of Ottawa's festival season after more than a year of uncertainty and dashed plans.
Bluesfest, CityFolk and Monathan's newest venture, the immersive Beyond Van Gogh, each received $250,000.
"It's a critical amount of money that's going to go to all the events that allow us to keep people on and hire more people to come and revive the industry," said Monahan.
WATCH | Petr Cancura from TD Ottawa Jazz Festival on funding:
The funding was announced by local MP Lisa MacLeod, who is Ontario's Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries, as part of a $50 million investment in Ontario's festivals and events.
MacLeod says this is part of a plan to accelerate the economic and "social recovery" by investing in local attractions where neighbours and arts lovers can once again gather.
"[The government is] supporting organizations that are finding new ways to safely engage and reconnect Ontarians with their local communities while creating local jobs." said MacLeod.
The money will help launch two new projects at Saunders Farms that will employ a wide range of local craftspeople and artists, according to its president Mark Saunders.
Plans are now underway for a revamped festival for "spooky" autumn nights and in December a charming country Christmas Village. Both projects received $97,000 each from the government.
"We're hiring artists and set designers and set dressers, and actors and performers ... a lot of people who were sort of left out in the last 18 months," said Saunders.
Pandemic events live on
A number of festivals say they will be building on new projects they pioneered during the pandemic, including the TD Ottawa Jazz Festival that will invest in virtual concert production and online streaming.
Festival programming director Petr Cancura says his priority will be hiring more musicians, but some of the $214,950 received will be used for new ventures launched during the pandemic.
Ali Shafaee, director of the Escapade Music Festival, says he will continue operating a drive-in theatre and holiday drive-thru in Ottawa's west end.
"They've all been so successful in terms of community involvement," says Shafaee.
"It's enabled us to say, 'OK, this isn't just a one-time pandemic event,' and they're events that we'll continue to run for years to come because of the funding we've been able to receive."
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