Faced with stagnating funding at a time when inflation has inflated its production and labor costs, the organization responsible for the New Year’s Eve show in the Old Port of Montreal has no other choice. than to cancel this year the 10e edition of Montréal en Fêtes.
“What I can say is that there has been funding that has stagnated for years, including that of the City, which has not increased since Valérie Plante came to power. [en novembre 2017]while the event has grown in recent years”, raised Tuesday, in an interview at the To have to, the vice-president of the board of directors of Montréal en Fêtes, Martin Durocher.
Created in 2013, the annual event allows various fun activities to be held during the month of December in public squares set up in the heart of Montreal, culminating on December 31 with the New Year’s show and the traditional fireworks in the Old Port of Montreal. These free activities attract approximately 200,000 festival-goers per year, “generating significant economic and tourist benefits for the city and its merchants,” noted Montréal en Fêtes in a press release issued on Tuesday.
This year, however, the organizers of the event have come up against significant financial stakes. In the context of inflation and labor shortages that Quebec is going through, they have not obtained an increase in funding for the event that meets their demands from the three levels of government, indicated Ms. . Of the rock. “We were renewed by subsidies roughly at the same level as last year”.
After analyzing the financing obtained and the production costs of the event this year, the organizers have thus found that they lacked about 1.8 million dollars to balance their budget, confides the co-founder of Montréal en Fêtes. After first studying the possibility of making the event chargeable, the organization finally decided to announce the cancellation of these festivities, while maintaining the hope of having the means to resume next year, if the funding is there.
“The organizers have decided to take a break in order to discuss with their partners, review the event’s financing structure and rethink its economic model for the future,” notes the Montréal en Fêtes press release. The organization thus wishes to ensure that the free event “survives” in the long term. “We have work to do at the public and private levels” to increase our funding, added Mr. Durocher.
The cabinet of the mayoress of Montreal, Valérie Plante, had not reacted when these lines were written.