FEST FOR SUCCESS
Toronto’s fast-growing music festival scene is booming, but can it stay that way?
Toronto’s music festival scene is blowing up, and 2015 looks to be the year the explosion’s plume will apex. In May, Canadian Music Week presented Mayor John Tory with the inaugural International Festival City of the Year award, an admittedly frivolous title that he’ll likely accept on the city’s behalf each year for the rest of his term in office.
The city is at a turning point in its cultural history, as ticket buyers from across Canada, the U.S., and outside North America take note of the packed circuit: from June through September, Toronto will boast multiple music fests every weekend. While some question the sustainability of the bursting festival scene (Tory has put a ban on any further street closures for summer 2015), from ticket sales to sponsorship dollars, festival promoters themselves seem optimistic that they’ve each figured out the formula to find success side by side in Toronto’s expanding market.
Relatively new festivals from Field Trip and TURF’s indie offerings to dance music-centric Electric Island and Digital Dreams will be joined in 2015 by Panamania, a 35day long festival in conjunction with the PanAm Games; Wayhome, a Bonnaroo-connected camping experience at Burl’s Creek; U.K. based, arty Bestival on Toronto Islands; Kraków, Poland’s experimental fest Unsound in partnership with Luminato; Sound Séance, a joint venture between local venue Geary Lane and Montreal’s Suoni Per Il Popolo; and indie Camp Wavelength, also on the Islands. Returning forces will also include Drake’s OVO, ED M mega-fest VELD, Chicago based Riot Fest, and familiar faces from the Jazz Festival to Pride to Harbourfront’s summer programming.
Ashley Capps, president of AC Entertainment and cofounder of Bonnaroo, and Shannon McNevan of Republic Live are confident that Wayhome will become Canada’s “international destination festival.”
“Toronto is a natural fit,” Capps drawls. “There is a cultural awareness and vitality that made me feel that it was a market — I hate that term — ready for a great world class musical experience.”
While the eruption has seemed sudden, Michael Hollett of NXNE, Toronto’s secondlongest running indie and alternative music festival, has watched the scene mature over time. “Twenty-two years ago, we were educating people about a festival experience. People get it now,” he explains. New doors are also opening at City Hall, such as the new Music City initiatives. “There’s room for all of us, and the city and the province are trying to create an environment that is music-festival positive.” He cites booming music and tech scene Austin, Toronto’s official music partner city, as an obvious inspiration.
Toronto music sector development officer and former NXNE director of Mike Tanner believes there’s space for everyone to coexist. “These festivals help build our identity as a music destination … they will become part of our tourism conversation for sure.” In his position at the music office, Tanner tries to help new and established festivals juggle everything from venue permits to finding sponsorship.
It’s not just City Hall on the side of live music: Ontariobased organizations are heavily bolstered by grants. Jeff Cohen of TURF, the Toronto Urban Roots Festival, is grateful for the support. “Between Celebrated Ontario and the Ontario Music Fund, TURF has brought in over half a mil- lion dollars in the past three years. That’s a lot of money for a young festival — otherwise we’d be bankrupt by now.”
Field Trip, a family friendly affair led by Jeffrey Remedios’s Arts&Crafts label, will also be returning for its third year, June 6-7. He too sees room for everyone, though 2015 may be the scene’s crest year. “We’re likely at the peak: when PanAm came calling to agents we work with, some were saying, ‘We don’t have anymore artists — they’re already playing everyone else’s festivals.’ ” (Nearly all festivals enforce radius clauses, though some place no restrictions on local acts).
Last year’s festival scene was rocky at times, most notably as NXNE’s disputes with both CMW and the music community ultimately culminated in a panel titled “NXNE Sucks,” and, post fest, the removal of the radius clause for local acts, a new artist application structure, ticketing changes and sizable staffing modifications.
In part due to frustration over profit-driven festivals, Jay Pollard will launch the inaugural Sound Séance, featuring members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, at Geary Lane June 12-14. “I was disillusioned by corporate festivals treating local venues, promoters, and artists as disposable.” Pollard explains. “My goal is building a productive community of local and international musicians who share common ideals.”
From large to small, each festival seems keenly aware that appealing to specific markets and offering unique experiences is what will make or break it for both new and established festivals in Toronto.
Jörn Weisbrodt, Luminato’s artistic director who convinced Unsound to make Toronto its only North American stop this year instead of New York, sayst festivals with defined identities have little to worry about. “We have to do things that no one else is doing, because otherwise there’s no reason for us to do it.”
To Capps, understanding the local audience and environment is key. Of Wayhome, he gushes: “People will have to experience it. Yes, it’s a camping festival. We’re creating a small community for a three-day period. But [Republic Live’s] vision for the site will be unlike any festival out there.”
McNevan adds: “If you look at Bonnaroo, it’s directly rooted in the things they’re proud of [in Nashville]. The [Ontario] site is an absolute knockout, and the things we get to celebrate are the things we’re proud of: from celebrity chefs to artisans, everyone is from here.” The angling is smart: many Toronto festivals now blast announcements about food and drink providers separate from music programming.
Bestival, too, relies on offering unique experiences. The biggest event to take place on the Islands since Virgin Fest will import its nouveau-hippy carnival theme: from June 12-13 a Bollywood Temple, marching bands, and circus troupes will amuse attendees alongside the music.
“Bestival is the Coachella of the U.K.,” says Adam Gill of Embrace, Bestival’s local partners. “It’s great that they chose Toronto as their first international location. The more festivals we have the more people are going to want to travel to Toronto. Sure there’s competition, but it’s a good thing.”
Hollett echoes this sentiment. “Music fans aren’t just going to one festival all summer — they’re going to something every weekend. We have an educated audience. If we try to put crap out in front of them they’re not going to come. It truly is a buyer’s market here: it forces us all to be better.”
While no one can say what the future of Toronto’s live music scene will look like, new festivals seem ready to accept slow growth in exchange for the opportunity to be part of what has become North America’s new hot spot for the kind of music-centric development Toronto’s City Hall has pledged to foster — and a music festival on the ground for every crane in the sky will likely keep things interesting for years to come.
‘Sure there’s competition, but it’s a good thing’