Blenders concert series ends due to financial trouble, Windscape/long Days in jeopardy
The long-running Blenders Music concert series in Swift Current has come to an end due to financial difficulties and the future of the Windscape Kite Festival might also be jeopardy.
The board of directors of Blenders Events Inc. announced on Nov. 9 that the organization will dissolve due to a lack of operational funding.
A week later there was another announcement on Nov. 16, indicating that the Saskpower Windscape Kite Festival and associated Long Day’s Night Music Festival are struggling financially and needs help.
Ian Swann, the board chair of Blenders Events Inc., said several factors resulted in the decision to end the concert series. One has been the impact of the COVID19 pandemic on concert attendance.
“We haven’t seen a return to the number of people coming out to our shows and this led us to a very close financial situation,” he noted. “We found that artist fees are up probably two to three times what they were and we were in a losing position, a deficit, at Blenders, especially
since we had to move away from our home base, which was the Lyric.”
In addition, the rising cost of living and inflationary pressures mean that the disposable income of people is less. He referred to other music festivals such as the Regina Folk Festival and the Vancouver Folk Music Festival that have experienced similar financial difficulties.
“There are a number of venues that are finding that people now don’t have as much discretionary spending, because of the pressures on their budgets,” he said. “There’s a lot of competition between
sports and cultural, and so there’s a lot of pressure on families as to where they put their money. And I guess Blenders just didn’t make the mix.”
The final Blenders concert featuring Belle Plaine and Dillon Currie took place at Great Plains College, Nov. 18. It was also the last of three concerts in the fall concert series at the college.
Concert attendance was lower during the 2022-23 season compared to before the pandemic, which resulted in a decision to only have three fall concerts instead of a full line-up for 2023-24.
“The main reason for running three concerts was to try and see if we could stir up interest, telling people how the financial situation was,” Swann said. “We couldn’t operate at a half to two-thirds house, even at the Lyric. That does not function. If we had 75 per cent, then we’re in a sort of a break-even position.”
The temporary closure of the Lyric Theatre for building renovations caused additional uncertainty, because it has been the regular venue for Blenders concerts. As a result, all three fall concerts took place at Great Plains College.
“So if the Lyric had been not under renovations, if we could have restructured with their board, it would have made sense,” he said. “But we do not know when the Lyric Theatre will reopen. They’re in the process of renovating right now.”
The location of the Blenders concert series at the historic Lyric Theatre offered a musical experience that became recognized on a provincial level. Blenders received a Saskatchewan Music Awards nomination in both 2018 and 2019 in the category for venue of the year.
Blenders brought a mix of established musicians and rising stars from across the Canadian music scene to Swift Current.
“We’ve had some great artists,” Swann recalled. “One year, almost every artist that went through here performed at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa in the same year. We just picked them up at the right time.”
The origins of the Blenders concert series can be traced back to 2002, when Shann Gowan began to organize music performances at the Art Gallery of Swift Current. She also organized a five-day music festival in the downtown area in 2003.
This evolved into the Blenders concert series and the Stircrazy Blues festival at the Lyric Theatre, while the Long Day’s Night music festival was started on the southwestern edge of the city and eventually included the Windscape Kite Festival.
Gowan said she was motivated by a desire to create opportunities for musicians to perform in the city, instead of just travelling past Swift Current to other locations.
“I was driving out of town to hear the kind of music that I wanted to hear and I knew that I wasn’t the only one,” she recalled. “I knew that there was great stuff going by on the highway that wasn’t stopping, because we didn’t have an appropriate kind of venue here in Swift Current. It just seemed like a really good idea at the time and I gave it a try. It was fairly successful. So I just kept going.”
She never really thought about how long it might continue and she just carried on year after year. She became the artistic and executive director of the Windscape, Blenders, Long Day’s Night and Stircrazy Blues festivals until her retirement in 2017. For several years afterwards she continued to remain involved with Blenders and served on the board.
“It’s sad,” she said about the end of Blenders. “It’s too bad that we’ve gotten to that point. But, you know, everything has a time and a place and I guess this is where we are.”
She met many musicians over the years and she became friends with some of them. Several artists have reached out to her after they heard that Blenders Events will be dissolved.
“I’ve had lots of artists be quite sad about it,” she said. “This was a great gig to get. And it helped pay their bills between Winnipeg and Calgary.”
Gowan added that Blenders was a wonderful part of her life and she is glad she began to bring those musicians to Swift Current.
“I think it will be missed,” she said. “It was good to let everybody see the kinds of amazing Canadian artists that are out there that we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. I think it was good for Swift Current and it had a really good run.”
The Nov. 16 announcement by the Windscape Kite Festival requested financial support from the community through donations. In addition, a new board and committee members are required to steer and revitalize the kite festival and the Long Day’s Night Music Festival.
An emergency public meeting has been scheduled at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 27 at the Swift Current Museum to discuss ways to save Windscape and Long Day’s Night.