Are more festivals at risk of shutting down?

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Is the Squamish Music Festival just the tip of the iceberg?

While organizers haven’t given their reasons for scrapping this year’s event yet, there’s speculation the weak Canadian dollar may have played a big part in their decision.

“The low loonie is affecting festivals across the country in that they can’t book international talent or they’re having a lot of difficulty doing so,” says Canadian Press entertainment reporter Victoria Ahearn.

“Usually, these acts are from the US or abroad and they are paid in US dollars. With the exchange rate, it ends up being one-and-a-half times and sometimes double the amount we would have paid a year ago. It’s getting too expensive.”

But Ahearn doesn’t see other big festivals in Pemberton, Merritt, Victoria or elsewhere folding this year.

“Many events are looking at more domestic acts these days. For instance, the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival this year is an exclusively Canadian affair. In the past they have booked some big American names but this year it’s all Canadian and they are worried they won’t sell as many tickets,” she tells NEWS 1130.

“Cancelling a festival outright is pretty extreme — and that’s why I don’t want to speculate on the Squamish Festival’s reasons for doing so. I think perhaps some don’t want to leave their fans in their dark and they also realize that they are a big boon to their communities so the better solution is to come up with Canadian acts to offer for this year. Next year, if the loonie is higher they can perhaps look at bringing international acts in once again.”

But Ahearn warns there could be downsides to going completely Canadian.

“The thinking is that with the low dollar, more Americans will be coming up here to vacation in the summer. The problem with an all-Canadian festival line up is that tourists may not be attracted to that because they don’t know the talent, they don’t know the names.”

But she says that does offer “an opportunity for Canada to shine” and promote talent on this side of the border.

“Maybe it’s not such a bad thing. Perhaps Canadians will start to celebrate their own and, like the artistic director of the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival says, maybe we will end being more like Quebec, where there is a star system internally and they invest and strengthen their own culture.”

Local event seems to be weathering the low-loonie well

Organizers of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival are making things work.

Mike Forrester with Coastal Jazz and Blues says they haven’t put all of their proverbial eggs in one basket.

He tells us they operate events all year ’round, which gives them some leeway when the dollar tanks. “I can treasure those shows in US dollars at rates advantageous to the budgets that we set.”

But making it all work can be difficult.

“Overall, it certainly is challenging for most festivals in Canada, with respect to our high USD rate — particularly those that are solely reliant on the festival portion of operations as their primary existence,” says Forrester.