The Vancouver Island live event landscape underwent a dramatic shift on Tuesday when the B.C. government announced its reopening plan — one that could see a gradual return to indoor and outdoor arts and culture events in the coming months.
For some event organizers, the news was unexpected but welcome as the concert and festival industry has been among the hardest-hit during the pandemic. For others, the news did not change the course of their suspended operations. Given the uncertainty around outdoor seated organized gatherings, which are currently set at 50 seated guests and are not expected to be addressed further until July 1, a series of high-profile events will still not return in 2021.
“We are 100 per committed to bringing Rifflandia back in a big way, and as much as I’m sad that it does not seem possible, reasonable, or even responsible to go after it this year, if it has to be September 2022 then that is what it has to be,” said Rifflandia co-founder Nick Blasko, whose large-scale Victoria music festival was expected to return this year.
“I want to make sure that when we bring it back, it can be a meaningful part of the big picture for our region, in terms of social and economic recovery. We’re almost there, but there’s still too many variables.”
Franz Lehrbass, executive director of the Royal & McPherson Theatres Society, which operates the Royal Theatre and McPherson Playhouse, saw the news from the provincial health authority as a step in the right direction. Although the announcement left some unanswered questions, he was encouraged with the steps the province is taking. “We can now start making more detailed, firm plans for preparing to re-open,” he said.
Lehrbass said he expects concerts to return at the Royal Theatre in full by late fall, if vaccination numbers continue to rise. The interest is clearly there from artists. “[The re-start plan] didn’t cause a big rush in the phone ringing — that pressure has already been on for a while. Artists and agents and promoters in the industry have been chomping at the bit to get tours lined up.”
The annual Vancouver Island Blues Bash, which has been cancelled, was scheduled to take place outdoor at Ship Point in the Inner Harbour Sept. 5–7. Darryl Mar, the executive/artistic director of the Victoria Jazz Society — which runs both Blues Bash and the TD Victoria International Jazz Festival — said he will revisit the status of his popular blues festival on June 15, when meetings between the arts and culture event sector and the province are expected to chart the course forward.
Jazzfest, which be held online June 24-30, will remain a virtual event for the second consecutive year, Mar said. He’s unsure of what shape Blues Bash will take, however. “If I know something by June 15, and there is a venue available, and we can get out infrastructure in place, we will go ahead with a Blue Bash of some sort. Beyond [June 15], we will have to settle on a hybrid festival over many days that would include both Jazzfest and Blues Bash shows in some capacity.”
City of Victoria arts and culture officials have been in talks with event organizers throughout the pandemic, but there was an uptick in the number of calls from prospective organizers this week, according to Jeff Day, senior cultural planner for the City of Victoria. Day said producers are being asked to wait for further news from the province before progressing to the next stage of planning. “There’s lots of promise in there but so many unanswered questions. The challenge that organizers have is that [the new rules are for] 50 seated guests, which is different than 50 people wandering around.”
The Victoria Symphony ‘s annual Symphony Splash has been cancelled, for the second consecutive year, but the local orchestra is planning an outdoor summer festival that will take place mid-July, in collaboration with Pacific Opera Victoria. The Victoria Ska and Reggae Society, which produces the annual Victoria Ska and Reggae Festival, is also adapting on the fly. A virtual event for June 25-July 3 was announced Friday, after a month’s worth of planning, Dane Roberts, artistic director for the Victoria Ska and Reggae Festival, said.
The recent news as it pertained to live event means Roberts and his team could look at adding an in-person component, protocols permitting. He is not, however, looking to tackle a full-scale festival amid the current conditions. “You can’t have an announcement two days ago and then suddenly have a festival,” Roberts said. “This [virtual event] took me several weeks to plan. A full ticketed show with a liquor licence for hundreds of people? Even under normal circumstances, these things take time and planning. “
The U.S. border remains closed, which means Vancouver Island events adding musical guests in the coming months will be drawing from a pool of exclusively local and regional acts. The Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre has one event on its calendar through the summer, and that is the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for basketball (June 29), which will have no fans in the building. Musical events at the Blanshard Street arena are not expected to resume until October at the earliest.
Food and beverage events might have an easier go of things in the short term. Brewery and the Beast, which on Thursday announced it would be resuming Sept. 12, after cancelling its 2020 edition, was able to return after the new provincial regulations came to light. The popular festival drew 2,200 people to Royal Athletic Park for its 2019 edition and could see success in a scaled-down capacity this year.
Two of the biggest festivals on the Island will sit out the 2021 season, but private owners of the 172-acre Laketown Ranch Music and Recreation Park in Lake Cowichan — where the massive Sunfest Country Music Festival and the Laketown Shakedown are held — are looking at options. If something does come to light over the Malahat, a slight return to in-person summer events, under the expanded provincial health protocols, will inject life and money into the local arts and culture economy.
“Our intention in the near-term is to move ahead with a weekly concerts-and-camping series,” said Mike Hann, general manager of Laketown Ranch. “We’re going to stick to highlighting the regional industry with a series of smaller concerts until something bigger is possible.”
The festival site is currently taking reservations for its campground, which Hann expects will be busy through the summer. Would concerts make it even more desirable? “We’re allowed to have camping, but we’re going to take our lead on concerts from the province as more information comes available. We’re not going to get too far ahead of ourselves. A lot can change.”
