rising costs kill vancouver folk music festival for 2023, perhaps forever
the vancouver folk music festival society will not proceed with this year's event and has scheduled a feb. 1 dissolution vote
jan 18 2023
4 minute read
the vancouver folk music festival has been a fixture on the local arts and cultural calendar for 45 years.
steve bosch
/
png
after four decades of music ringing out from several stages, jericho beach park will be silent in july.
the vancouver folk music festival society has announced that it will not be holding an event this summer, citing rising costs. and the society is considering dissolving. it has called for a membership vote on that at its annual meeting on feb. 1.
abc vancouver mayor ken sim said: “this is a very unfortunate loss for our city. the vancouver folk festival has been an institution in our city for decades. as our arts and culture sector continues to recover from the impacts of the covid-19 pandemic, council will be working to make it easier for events and festivals to be hosted in vancouver.”
the event drew tens of thousands of festival goers and has been a fixture on the local arts calendar for 45 years. it garnered a devoted multi-generational following for its adventurous booking of traditional, contemporary and unique artists, often redefining the idea of what constituted folk music in the public mind.
framed by the mountains, the harbour and the park greenery, the setting was one-of-a-kind. in a letter to the editor from the very first event dated aug. 19, 1978, richmond reader j. brian chisholm noted “it has been a successful experiment and should be approved as an annual event.”
advertisement
advertisement
“following last year’s ‘coming back’ festival, trends in costs of putting on events of this nature on lead us to do a deep dive into our finances,” said society president mark zuberbuhler. “while the event was successful on many fronts, after looking at the gap between costs in mounting the festival and the anticipated revenues we can bring in to support it, we’ve determined that it just isn’t viable.”
while artist’s fees held steady from 2020 levels, zuberbuhler said that every other aspect of operating costs have risen more than 40 per cent over last year. the board determined it would need an additional $500,000 to produce an event this year and knows those costs will only continue to rise.
mark zuberbuhler is the president of the vancouver folk music festival board. the board is calling for a vote to dissolve the vfmf as an entity on feb. 1 and the 2023 event is cancelled.
photo: peter holst
/
jpg
“the cost increases around renting stages, port-a-potties, fencing and such went up astronomically,” he said. “a number of our suppliers went out of business, and we found ourselves competing with the film industry and others for some of these products. it was very, very challenging to compete.”
another factor in the decision to cancel 2023 is the change in industry practices post-pandemic. major events typically rely on ticket revenues to finance operating costs. standard practice today is cash up front.
advertisement
advertisement
“utilizing ticket revenue to pay suppliers, deposits on artists and such has always been the practice as the festival operates on a shoestring budget,” he said. “we just don’t have the kind of cash reserves to do business in this way, and the board was realistic in viewing our options moving forward.”
noting the “sad news,” green coun. adriane carr said she has fond memories of setting up booths for the wilderness committee at the folk festival in the 1990s to raise support for campaigns. watching canadian folk singer bob bossin perform his song “sulphur passage” at the festival, she said. “i cried then and i still cry whenever i hear his recording.”
among the many artists of note who received a huge break to their careers was multiple juno award-winner dan mangan. he lamented the state of the industry for both artists and events, noting the many challenges coming out of covid. the loss of the folk fest is a blow for nurturing nascent artists.
“i played the festival the first time in 2009, when i could maybe sell a few hundred tickets at the media club,” said mangan. “but by my set sunday afternoon at the far, far away stage, i played to a packed crowd and was invited onto the mainstage that night. i felt the momentum building over the course of the weekend and the next show we played in town was at the vogue. it was a complete turning point for my career.”
advertisement
advertisement
the list of artists who can echo mangan’s sentiments is a who’s who of local, national and international names. zuberbuhler said there was a magic to the event.
“i always appreciated the diversity of the talent showcased every year, and had been an attendee for many before joining the board,” he said. “it was a magic combination of summer, beach, ocean and great music.”
the society board of directors will make a public announcement on the future of the festival feb. 2, following the feb. 1 vote.
the folk festival may only be the first such event to face hardship in 2023. in a email received from the organisers behind the squamish constellation festival are also “contemplating the viability of producing its annual event in 2023.”
more news, fewer ads: our in-depth journalism is possible thanks to the support of our subscribers. for just $3.50 per week, you can get unlimited, ad-lite access to the vancouver sun, the province, national post and 13 other canadian news sites. support us by subscribing today: the vancouver sun | the province.
share story
