After the resurrection of the Taste of The Danforth was announced last week thanks to provincial and municipal funding, Mayor Olivia Chow said Tuesday that she’s hoping to make some changes that will help keep festivals across the city afloat more permanently.
The comments came during an unrelated announcement about the city’s school food program when the mayor took questions from members of the media and was asked about festival funding.
She said last year and this year, she has set aside $4 million in the city budget to support various festivals.
“Because the costs have gone up,” she said. “Insurance, paid duty officers, vehicle mitigation [measures] … all of it costs money. So that’s why in my budget we have invested more.”
She said that in the report presented at the Economic and Community Development Committee meeting on Tuesday, it is recommended that a plan called the Special Events Stabilization Initiative be formally established as a funding program.
“It recommends that we take those funds that I have added in every year [in the budget] and make it permanent. So it’s not every year that we have to debate whether to add more money to the festivals. We will make it permanent – so every year there will be a substantial increase to the festival funding,” said Chow.
Great news for the city: Pride Toronto
Pride Toronto, that has struggled with funding over the past several years, tells CityNews that the hundreds of thousands of dollars that are now guaranteed will lead to a better festival for everyone.
“We are very excited. I think this is great news for the city, for festivals throughout Toronto that this has now become permanent and I really want to applaud the mayor and city council for making such a bold move,” said Kojo Modeste, executive director of Pride Toronto. “It shows the commitment to festivals and recognizing the important role that festivals play in the City of Toronto.”
Mayor Chow also spoke about another initiative the City is funding with a small amount of “seed money.” It will allow various festival organizers to come together and share ideas, learn from each other and establish best practices for festivals across the city.
“They have a lot of excellent ideas about how to attract more sponsors, on how to lower the cost of insurance, how they could make the festival goers feel safe,” she said. “Through the Toronto Business Improvement Area Association we provided $100,000 so that they can form an association.”
She said it will also allow the City of Toronto to give them information about how to cut red tape, how to get their permits in place smoothly and more efficiently and so on.
“This coordinated effort is helping them come together to learn from each other and learn from the City, so that together we can have even better festivals [that are] even more successful and they are very pleased with that initiative,” she said.
After the resurrection of the Taste of The Danforth was announced last week thanks to provincial and municipal funding, Mayor Olivia Chow said Tuesday that she’s hoping to make some changes that will help keep festivals across the city afloat more permanently. The comments came during an unrelated announcement about the city’s school food program Uncategorized
After the resurrection of the Taste of The Danforth was announced last week thanks to provincial and municipal funding, Mayor Olivia Chow said Tuesday that she’s hoping to make some changes that will help keep festivals across the city afloat more permanently.
The comments came during an unrelated announcement about the city’s school food program when the mayor took questions from members of the media and was asked about festival funding.
She said last year and this year, she has set aside $4 million in the city budget to support various festivals.
“Because the costs have gone up,” she said. “Insurance, paid duty officers, vehicle mitigation [measures] … all of it costs money. So that’s why in my budget we have invested more.”
She said that in the report presented at the Economic and Community Development Committee meeting on Tuesday, it is recommended that a plan called the Special Events Stabilization Initiative be formally established as a funding program.
“It recommends that we take those funds that I have added in every year [in the budget] and make it permanent. So it’s not every year that we have to debate whether to add more money to the festivals. We will make it permanent – so every year there will be a substantial increase to the festival funding,” said Chow.
Great news for the city: Pride Toronto
Pride Toronto, that has struggled with funding over the past several years, tells CityNews that the hundreds of thousands of dollars that are now guaranteed will lead to a better festival for everyone.
“We are very excited. I think this is great news for the city, for festivals throughout Toronto that this has now become permanent and I really want to applaud the mayor and city council for making such a bold move,” said Kojo Modeste, executive director of Pride Toronto. “It shows the commitment to festivals and recognizing the important role that festivals play in the City of Toronto.”
Mayor Chow also spoke about another initiative the City is funding with a small amount of “seed money.” It will allow various festival organizers to come together and share ideas, learn from each other and establish best practices for festivals across the city.
“They have a lot of excellent ideas about how to attract more sponsors, on how to lower the cost of insurance, how they could make the festival goers feel safe,” she said. “Through the Toronto Business Improvement Area Association we provided $100,000 so that they can form an association.”
She said it will also allow the City of Toronto to give them information about how to cut red tape, how to get their permits in place smoothly and more efficiently and so on.
“This coordinated effort is helping them come together to learn from each other and learn from the City, so that together we can have even better festivals [that are] even more successful and they are very pleased with that initiative,” she said.