$30 million in provincial funding to benefit live-event industry

B.C. event producers received a much-needed boost Thursday as the province announced $30 million in funding to support arts and culture events and community gatherings.

The B.C. Fairs, Festivals and Events fund will be administered for the second consecutive year to community celebrations, music festivals, agriculture fairs and other eligible events. The one-time grants will be for as much as 20 per cent of the total event budget, up to a maximum of $250,000. Events staged between April 1, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2024, are eligible for funding.

In 2022, more than 680 events received B.C. Fairs, Festivals and Events funding, including 141 on Vancouver Island. The money was used to cover operating costs, health and safety measures and venue rentals, among other areas.

“The past three years have been incredibly difficult for people in the tourism industry, including live events, and we know not every business has fully recovered,” Lana Popham, B.C.’s minister of tourism, arts, culture and sport, said in a statement.

The news comes at an opportune time for the live-event industry, which is struggling to cope with rising costs in almost every area of the business, said Scott Gurney, owner of Victoria event management and production company 17Black Events.

“Not only is this going to positively effect the business and promoters that put on these events, it’s going to have a huge impact on the other businesses associated with our industry that were also massively impacted during the pandemic, like tenting companies, stage and production companies, and rental companies.”

Gurney said that if this new funding was not set aside, the industry would have faced significant challenges. “We would not have been able to produce festivals at the same level of quality as we had in the past, or at the same pricepoint.”

Last year, several Vancouver Island events each received $250,000 through the fund, including Victoria’s Rifflandia and Lake Cowichan festivals Sunfest and Laketown Shakedown. Courtenay’s Vancouver Island Music Fest ($213,442), 55+ B.C. Games ($125,375), Victoria Film Festival ($120,411), TC10K ($104,519), and Royal Victoria Marathon ($100,000) each received subtantial amounts as well.

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