Festivals more than justify city investments
Saturday’s Citizen included a column by Mark Sutcliffe, the Chair of the Great Canadian Theatre Company (the one group that receives more city funding than any other arts organization or festival in the entire city) advocating the elimination of all funding to festivals. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.
The very next day, the Citizen published a lengthy story on festivals which stated: “Check out the tourists if you need evidence. They don’t pour into the capital every summer just to see Parliament Hill. Nearly 250,000 of them came to town last year to take in one or more of the major summer music festivals – jazz, blues, chamber music and folk – leaving more than $40 million for the local economy.”
Festivals do contribute hugely to the local economy. A 2003 study of just 21 of Ottawa’s many festivals conducted by the Ottawa Tourism and Convention Authority showed that these events generated over $57 million in direct spending and $93.3 million in economic activity for Ottawa in that year. This is a remarkable return on the paltry $438,000 that the City of Ottawa granted to those festivals in 2003. Festival funding from the city has, in fact, been frozen for the past five years. Because of festivals, Ottawa benefits from a larger business and residential tax base. More and more, I am reading that festivals are a major factor in people’s decision to live in Ottawa. Many employers point to festivals as a major asset when trying to attract employees from other cities. When the 2004 city draft budget proposed cutting festivals, the outcry was huge.
Mr. Sutcliffe uses the term “weaning off” to describe slowly removing funding from festivals over a period of three years, much the way a heroin addict might try to break his habit. Municipal funding is not a frill or an addiction. It is a prerequisite to having a healthy festival industry that provides massive social and economic return to the city.
Municipal funding offers a base that is then matched many times over by the federal and provincial governments, by the private sector, private donors and by private foundations. Regular economic impact aside (which is huge), this other funding causes enormous amounts of money to flow into Ottawa. Cutting off municipal funding would be foolish to the extreme. This is also the case for the arts as a whole. My extensive experience both as Executive Director of the organization that runs the world’s largest chamber music festival and, from the other perspective, as a regular participant in assessing funding requests, leaves no doubt in my mind that Ottawa would benefit hugely from significantly increasing funding to festivals. Eliminating city funding would kill all festivals and deprive the city of huge economic benefits and events that animate the city throughout the year.
And no, Mr. Sutcliffe, city councillors do not make decisions on funding individual festivals any more than they do on funding the Great Canadian Theatre Company. The City of Ottawa has an excellent arms-length policy for determining levels of funding. A jury of experts in the field reviews all grant applications and assesses them on excellence in programming, quality of management, contribution to the community, support of local artists, economic impact and impact on tourism. All festivals that receive ongoing city funding are required to submit highly-detailed reports including annual audited statements. People who run successful festivals are among the best managers you will ever find.
True, there have been a few high-profile examples of individual festivals going outside the process and going directly to City Council after experiencing a particularly rough year. At the best of times, running a festival is a very risky business. Festivals have to make a full range of financial commitments but have no control over unforeseen events such as bad weather, health scares, terrorist attacks (remember 9-11?) or massive power blackouts. The board of Ottawa Festivals is now working with representatives from the City of Ottawa to find ways to create stability in the festival industry so that council is not faced with these awkward and politically-charged decisions.
Festivals are a great investment. Cities invest in many things for many reasons. All important cities invest in the arts and in festivals. All invest in tourism. All invest in those things which improve the quality of life and attract and retain residents, thus building the municipal tax base. And yes, Mr. Sutcliffe, even Scotiabank Place has received municipal subsidies, advantageous re-zonings which amount in practical terms to a subsidy, and ongoing subsidies in the form of municipal tax relief. Large corporations have received financial incentives to relocate here.
Festivals are a big part of what makes Ottawa a great city. It is time the City of Ottawa finally fulfilled its long-standing promise to invest even more in them. The potential for even greater return is enormous.
Ultimately, the reason we support festivals and other artistic activity is because this is what makes us human. This has no price tag. We need to be inspired, stimulated, challenged, moved, excited and transformed. Do we really want to stay at home and watch “The Apprentice” and “Survivor” every evening?
Almost all of Ottawa’s festivals are in great shape and have spectacular seasons coming up. I would encourage everyone to get out and experience them. Festivals attract people to Ottawa from every part of the world and promote Ottawa internationally in a highly positive manner. Come and see what the excitement is all about!
Julian Armour is President of Ottawa Festivals
Ottawa Citizen Article – June 26 ,2006
Tags: City of Ottawa, funding
