Viewpoint: City should be doing more to keep annual festivals sustainable

By Veronica Newbury

The snow is starting to melt, the sun is peeking through the grey winter clouds and we’ve finally made it to spring.

In theory.

For many, the dawn of a new season can bring about feelings of revival and rejuvenation. For the city of Ottawa, March 20 marked not only the first day of spring, but also the start of “festival season.”

Festival season is characterized by a surge of live shows and events popping up at both indoor and outdoor venues around the city, stretching from the spring to the fall.

And Ottawa is set to see an even bigger surge of festival fun this year as the country’s sesquicentennial celebrations heat up.

 If you haven’t heard of Canada 150 or Ottawa 2017 yet, you’ve probably been living under a rock.

The city has been pouring cash into a flashy campaign designed to hype the country’s milestone birthday— everything from live music to sporting events to award shows.

This is in addition to the usual roster of showcase events that take place across the city, such as the Tulip Festival in May, and RBC Bluesfest, a music blowout that sprawls over two weeks every July at LeBreton Flats.

The latter has especially turned out to be quite the lucrative attraction for the city, including downtown hotels and restaurants.

According to numbers provided by the festival, the economic impact of Bluesfest in the national capital region is approaching $38 million. It’s been estimated that 55 per cent of Ottawa’s population has attended the festival within the last five years.

While this is just one example, clearly there is something to be said about the impact music festivals have on the local economy.

As we head into a 2017 peppered with celebratory festivals, it’s hard not to believe that the city is on the verge of a business boom. Soon, many local restaurants, bars and hotels will be reaping the benefits as temperatures turn and additional tens of thousands of visitors flock into the capital.

But the government has to be on board with the mission of keeping our bedrock annual festivals sustainable from year-to-year. According to some key stakeholders, the city could be doing much more.

Late last year, the Ottawa Citizen reported that some festival officials felt the city was “turning its back” on the cultural community at the worst possible time.

Sean Wilson, president of Ottawa Festivals, claimed that the city is lagging 30 per cent behind the national average in festival funding.

He added that while the municipality is willing to shell out the big funds to support its one-time Ottawa 2017 program, advocates of some recurring festivals feel left behind in the dust.

Ottawa Festivals maintains the city’s arts, culture, heritage and recreation committee has gone back on a previously-approved six-year strategic plan —developed in 2012 — to allot $5 million in arts, heritage and cultural investments.

Mayor Jim Watson fired back at the organization, stating that: “They’re getting the most amount of money they’ve ever received in the history of festival funding.”

Watson also pointed to an additioal $250,000 Ottawa Festivals had recived from the Ottawa 2017 budget.

Ottawa 2017 may indeed help put local artists and businesses in the national spotlight. It has the potential to seriously bulk up the local tourism industry.

But when the celebrations come to a close, the city’s on-going festivals will remain and their concerns about chronic funding shortfalls will be voiced again. They need to be given the resources to survive and thrive.

Why should the city government and — more generally — the rest of us care?

That question could be answered by arguing for the preservation of artistic and cultural identity within the city. But it can also be answered on more practical grounds.

Festival are, quite simply, good business.

They provide spaces for advertisement and promotion. They bring customers to local hotels, restaurants and watering holes, selling food. drink and lodgings after festival-goers emerge from the white tents of the performance venues. 

And they allow the local music industry to thrive by showcasing home-grown talent.

All-in-all, festivals set the stage for a bustling, dynamic, attractive city, which is good for the economy, the quality of life of local residents and for Ottawa’s reputation with tourists.

This is something that should be made a priority year-round, not just when the country is turning 150.