Ottawa Chamberfest receives Celebrate Ontario funding to enhance its programming and increase tourism

Ottawa Chamber Music Society, organizers of the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, announced this morning that it has received $270,000 in Celebrate Ontario funding from the Province of Ontario to enhance its programming and attract more tourists to the nation’s capital. This is the fourth year in which Chamberfest has received funding at this level. Last year, Chamberfest’s 20th anniversary programming, which Celebrate Ontario helped to expand, increased tourism to the festival by 14% year over year and resulted in an additional $1M in economic impact in the region. Chamberfest was launched in Ottawa in 1994 and has grown from a three-day, 20-concert event into the world’s largest chamber music festival. It is a Festival and Events Ontario (FEO) Top 100 attraction, an FEO Level of Distinction cultural celebration, and winner of seven consecutive Lieutenant Governor's Awards for the Arts. “Celebrate Ontario funding allows us to present from among the world’s finest solo and ensemble performing artists,” said Maxim Antoshin, executive director of the Ottawa Chamber Music Society. “With the province’s help, we are making Ottawa the global centre for sophisticated listeners. Not every city has a chamber music festival. Ottawa has the world’s largest, which makes it unique as an international arts destination. Celebrate Ontario helps us to maintain that distinction.”