The Burlington Sound of Music Festival is planning another big live show this year, but with 51 days to go they are still waiting to hear from the Province of Ontario and the Federal government about their funding applications. The show is scheduled to go from June 15 – 18 and the performing roster features big names including The Struts, A Flock of Seagulls, Men Without Hats, The Spoons, Default, JJ Wilde, Crash Test Dummies, I Mother Earth, Badflower, Lee Aaron, Coney Hatch, Sven Gali, The Road Hammers, Lindsay Ell, Chad Brownlee, Cory Marks, The Abrams Brothers, Billy Raffoul, The Darcy’s and many more. It is a free festival which accounts for the need for public grant support.
Last years event attracted a record attendance of 416,000 guests “That attendance was something that truly showed us just how loved this Festival is. That’s why we wanted to put together another year that people are going to be talking about for a long time to come,” said SOM CEO Myles Rusak. “But we are not hearing anything about the funding applications we filed in February. We have been working with Local MPs and MPPs and the two Minister’s offices but we are being told ‘there are a lot of applications and we will tell you as soon as a decision is made,’—it’s concerning,” said Rusak.
“With continual rising supplier costs, tightened budgets of sponsors, and the ever-changing landscape of government funding; the organization that presents the Festival still faces an uphill battle for sustainability,” SOM noted in a news release.
“We are the biggest single cultural event in the region,” said Rusak. Who estimated the economic spinoff from last year’s event at $32 Million. He said the city of Burlington has provided funding and that Mayor Marianne Meed Ward has been lobbying the senior government to renew their commitment.
“As an independent non-profit, our dependency on government funding is very real and we are looking to the Provincial and Federal governments to follow the Municipality’s lead and step up in a big way for 2024,” said Rusak,The Festival receives nearly 45% of its funding through municipal, provincial and federal grants. The remaining funding comes from corporate sponsorship, VIP upgrades, food and beverage sales and vendor programs.
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