Just two weeks before an end-of-January deadline, the future of Toronto International BuskerFest remains in limbo.
Until 2015, the two-day event in August was referred to as Scotiabank BuskerFest, reflecting the support of its principal sponsor. But after 15 years, Canada’s third-largest bank has ended its sponsorship, and now the festival is in jeopardy.
“We hope to continue,” Drew Woodley, Epilepsy Toronto’s director of communications, told NOW in December. But the future of the festival seemed less certain last week. The largest street performers festival in North America is the most important fundraiser for non-profit group Epilepsy Toronto. Last year, BuskerFest raised $250,000 for the organization.
“It’s our largest single revenue source,” says Woodley.
Scotiabank provided 50 per cent of BuskerFest’s funding, and the remaining $150,000 in operating costs were split between more than a dozen other sponsors, including the Chelsea Hotel, Ryerson University and the Downtown Yonge BIA. Woodley confirms that BuskerFest has been working with the BIA on possible sponsorships from businesses on Yonge.
In October 2015, Scotiabank cut ties with Nuit Blanche, Caribbean Carnival and the CHIN Picnic in a rebranding the bank says is aimed at focusing community events funding on hockey (the bank sponsors Rogers Hometown Hockey), marathons and arts events with a focus on film and photography.
In an official statement (the bank declined several requests from NOW for comment), Scotiabank notes that it invested more than $25 million in GTA community events in 2014. It continues to sponsor Toronto arts-related events, albeit more lucrative and, some would argue, more prestigious ones, like the Giller Prize, Hot Docs and Contact Photography Festival. In its first year, Scotiabank’s donation to Nuit Blanche was about $700,000. In 2015 it grew to $3 million.
“If you read between the lines, it would appear that they’re dropping mass events that are free for [events] that are more exclusive and ticketed that they can probably invite their high-end customers to,” says Terry Nicholson, Toronto’s director of arts and culture services.
Scotiabank sponsorship by the numbers
$65 million Total donations and sponsorships in 2014.
32% How much of that total went to social services, including employment services, charity runs and working with at-risk youth.
11% How much went to sports, including hockey clubs and youth teams.
9% How much went to arts and culture.
$10 million Scotiabank’s gift to the National Gallery of Canada in 2015 to found the Canadian Photography Institute, a research and exhibition centre, the largest corporate financial donation ever made to the NGC.
Publicly, Scotiabank ended its sponsorship of Nuit Blanche in October, just days after the festival’s 10th instalment. But, in fact, Nuit Blanche organizers had been notified of the bank’s decision 18 months earlier. Nicholson insists the withdrawal had nothing to do with police calls dealing with crowds, violence and alcohol-fuelled misbehaviour in Yonge-Dundas Square that night.
After cutting ties with Nuit Blanche, Scotiabank lent its fundraising consultants to the festival to conduct studies and provide guidance on how to move forward. It’s done the same for all the arts groups it’s dropped, BuskerFest included.
“Companies change direction three times in a decade, or change their personnel,” says Nicholson. “Usually your sponsorships don’t survive that. The [new] person wants to put his or her own stamp on things.”
Nuit Blanche hasn’t yet secured a new sponsor. Its list won’t be released until summer. Regardless, Nicholson is confident the event will go on.
“One of the advantages of being part of the city is that it’s a big ship, and you know it can take a few hits without going down right away.”
The same can’t be said of the others who’ve lost the bank’s financial backing.
Scotiabank sponsored Caribbean Carnival for eight years, renewing that contract three times. According to Denise Herrera Jackson, the festival’s chief executive officer, ways of replacing the required $2 million are being considered, including hiking admission fees for the annual grand parade and other ticketed events.
Councillor Joe Mihevc, the city’s liaison for Caribbean Carnival, says that while the three-week-long cultural celebration hasn’t secured a new major sponsor, he doesn’t believe it’s in jeopardy of not happening in 2016.
“Scotiabank made a business decision to pull out of a number of arts-related groups and festivals, and Caribbean Fest was simply one of them. We’ll go forward with the festival, absolutely.”
Meanwhile, Woodley notes that while Scotiabank’s attempt to find BuskerFest another sponsor “hasn’t panned out,” Epilepsy Toronto is still hoping to maintain a charitable relationship with the bank.
“We think this is a great festival,” he adds. “It’s a great way to bring together the work we do supporting Toronto’s epilepsy community and some interesting performance and art from Toronto, Canada and around the world. It would be a real shame if we lost that opportunity.
michelled@nowtoronto.com | @michdas
