With tourism season around the corner, festival organizers in BC are calling on the government to either restore or replace a fund that helps cover their costs.
More Canadians are looking for home-grown travel experiences as tariff threats from the USA are cooling cross-border travel, and in an open letter to the province, organizers say it’s more important than ever to encourage local entertainment. Signers include representatives from the Cowichan Valley’s popular Sunfest Country Music Festival, and the Philips Backyard Music Festival in Victoria.
With spring and summer events already in planning, they are concerned the province has not yet opened applications for the B.C. Fairs, Festivals and Events Fund, which covers up to 20% of an event’s budget. It was launched during the COVID pandemic as a temporary fund. In January groups were told by the province the fund would be suspended because of “uncertainty in the current economic and fiscal context.”
More than 1,100 events in BC received funding through the program last year.
