The artistic producer of the SummerWorks Festival says the theatre and arts festival will continue this August, even though they were denied federal funding from Heritage Canada. But tickets might be a bit more costly.
The 21-year-festival learned last Wednesday that their application, filed last September, was unsuccessful.
“The festival will continue as planned,” says Michael Rubenfeld. “We all feel positive about the work and the festival. We’re poised to have a great year.”
Considering the sudden shortfall, Rubenfeld says the festival will likely raise ticket prices from $10 per ticket to $15. They will also cut some of their marketing budget and reconsider plans for their new outdoor venue called the Art Bar (near MOCCA and the Andrew Day Gallery).
The Heritage grant is estimated at about $45,000, or 20% of the festival’s budget. This morning, SummerWorks sent out an email to supporters asking them to consider giving a minimum gift of $21 to help them celebrate its 21st season. You can donate here.
“The community response has been fantastic,” says Rubenfeld, talking on the set of the series Flashpoint, where he’s filming a guest spot.
Ironically, Flashpoint co-creator Mark Ellis tweeted earlier today that without the festival there would be no Flashpoint. “It’s how Stephanie [Morgenstern, co-creator and spouse] and I met,” tweeted Ellis from the Flashpoint Twitter feed.
TV writer and producer Denis McGrath posted on Twitter that he’d donated $1000 to the festival, saying the festival played an “important role in the development of my career.” He later tweeted that the first play he’d ever written played at the festival.
Many other artists, like Mike McPhaden, d’bi.young, Alex Poch-Goldin, Maev Beatty, Erin Shields and Alan Dilworth got early encouragement at the fest.
“SummerWorks has influenced the cultural train of the country,” says Rubenfeld, citing increased annual attendance and many shows that have gone on to further acclaim. Two of tonight’s Dora Mavor Moore Awards nominees, The Middle Place and Montparnasse, began life at SummerWorks.
Rubenfeld is not sure how much Sun Media’s criticism of the festival’s funding of the show Homegrown, which played at last year’s festival, was responsible for the cut. Catherine Frid’s play was partly told through the perspective of Shareef Abdelhaleem, a convicted “Toronto 18” terrorist.
“I couldn’t say either way,” he says. “[Heritage Canada] did not communicate anything about that. We stand behind all our works, which ask really important questions about the world we live in.”
Rubenfeld says the festival continues to feel very positive about the relationship they’ve had with Heritage Canada.
“It’s been a productive partnership and we’re grateful for the funding we’ve received for the last five years,” he says. “We’ve love to speak with them about how we can reapply and what we can do to be successful.”
