Good morning.
Thank you very much for giving me this time.
I'm speaking to you today as a representative of the Regroupement des festivals régionaux artistiques indépendants, or REFRAIN, which includes more than 80 arts festivals across Quebec.
It's March and the programming announcement season is upon us. Organizers from across Quebec have spent the last few months imagining their festival, building it and financing it. From one day to the next, our industry had to stop everything amidst the greatest uncertainty. In the meantime, our organizations have adapted, have been resilient, inventive and determined. For the vast majority of arts festivals, the main concern was to keep their resources employed in order to maintain the knowledge acquired in recent years, in addition to continuing their business relationships with the various partners and funding agencies.
The government has been proactive in providing funding through a number of programs, which has allowed businesses to continue some of their operations. There has been financial assistance for employees and rent, emergency assistance, and much more. The government has also announced increased flexibility in the accountability of several programs, including those of Canadian Heritage and Tourisme Québec.
Several members of REFRAIN have taken advantage of this crisis to reinvent themselves and to test formulas for projects that could take place during a pandemic. These include the transition to a digital or hybrid offer, performances in front of people's homes, shows with reduced capacity and mobile performances. Our members have used their imagination to continue working during this crisis. Throughout this process, some organizations have fared well, while others have found it harder to adapt, for a variety of reasons.
New festivals in existence for two years or less that did not already have government support received little or no financial assistance to get through the crisis. Organizations with limited structures and volunteer resources found it more difficult to navigate the programs and complete all the necessary applications for funding. There is also the fact that the environment in which the festival was held did not always allow for the introduction of alternative projects, and that not all artistic disciplines are recognized at the same level.
Although the more established festivals have managed to get through the crisis, several other events have been weakened, while others are questioning their existence. Many competent people have gone to work for other organizations or have reoriented their careers, leaving a big gap in the structures.
Government support has helped limit the damage, but the real challenge will come in the coming year. The future of many festivals will be decided in 2021, and the government will have a key role to play in this transition period. We can't talk about a recovery period yet, because everything indicates that the summer of 2021 will be similar to the summer of 2020.
Here are some thoughts and requests from our group.
We are asking for early confirmation, in early 2021, that federal programs will be renewed for the next year, and for a faster response to funding requests.
We recommend that multi-year agreements of three to five years be put in place to allow events to project into the future and to better plan for the recovery period, which will take a few years.
We request special funding for recent festivals three years old and under. They should be eligible for existing Canadian Heritage programs or have access to special funds during the crisis.
We would like to see a grant to support innovative pandemic initiatives modelled on the SODEC provincial grants, and the acquisition of infrastructure and equipment needed to implement health measures should be made eligible.
We also recommend more flexible evaluation criteria for existing programs, a flexibility that Canadian Heritage has already announced. There is talk of a decrease in the ratio of self-generated income and less consideration of support from local partners, all of whom are affected by the crisis.
You also need to accept the surpluses generated by some festivals during the crisis, instead of penalizing them, and recognize that these surpluses will serve as a stimulus fund and compensate for the loss of several private partners.
We are asking for an increase in the envelopes of existing programs to compensate for the loss of own-sourced revenues, but also for the loss of private sector contributions and some funding from Crown corporations such as Loto-Québec.
We suggest the creation of programs to promote projects with digital content or on-site projects.
Thanks to the contribution of our respondents—60 festivals responded to the REFRAIN survey—we have targeted concrete and simple solutions, which we are proposing. These will solve some of our problems. They will enable us to continue our activities and prepare for a recovery that should extend over the next two years.
The event industry is essential, in normal times. Arts festivals are essential to the vitality of a community and they contribute directly to the well-being of the population. It is therefore essential to understand that this event industry will be extremely important when this crisis is over.
Thank you very much.