Yes. REFRAIN was created during the pandemic. It is an initiative from Patrick Kearney, the organizer of a Montreal festival. The goal in the beginning was to create a discussion group between the organizers of some 10 festivals to share our best practices and concerns, and to talk about new funding measures in our regions.
We quickly saw the interest of joining together, and REFRAIN now consists of 80 festivals, with some just starting out and others more established, such as ours. I represent a lot of music festivals, but there are festivals across all disciplines: visual arts, circus arts, literature, and even recreational science. The festivals take place both indoors and outdoors, in the regions or in cities such as Quebec City and Montreal.
We now have a panel of people from some 10 festivals that meet every week, and a committee that brings together the organizers of 80 festivals that meets bi-weekly or monthly to discuss new government announcements. Some organizers are a bit less familiar with the structures and steps involved in funding requests. We are submitting joint requests to the government. Soon, we will develop portals to help promote all those festivals.