‘Warning bell’: Montreal festivals worried after Just for Laughs cancellation

In Montreal, the situation is worrying organizers about whether the city can sustain its festive summer atmosphere and abundant offering of free entertainment.

The cancellation of the Just for Laughs comedy festivals in Montreal and Toronto this year underscores the vulnerability of an industry struggling to manage ballooning costs while vying for increasingly in-demand but inadequate government grants.

As a result, some events are considering cuts. In Montreal, the situation is worrying organizers about whether the city can sustain its festive summer atmosphere and abundant offering of free entertainment.

“It’s not easy to offer free (events), but it’s important for Montreal and its reputation — that’s its brand image, you might say,” said Suzanne Rousseau, director of Festival International Nuits d’Afrique, a showcase of African, Caribbean and Latin American music.

“We need to think about how to keep this alive and not lose it,” she pleaded. “It’s urgent.”

From the moment the first beat drops at the weekly Piknic Électronik shows that begin in May, a ceaseless cascade of summer events wash over Montreal, from the rip-roaring Formula 1 Grand Prix in June to the Osheaga music festival in August. Dozens of back-to-back smaller events keep the streets buzzing with activities, many of them free.

The proliferation of festivals across Canada over the years has led to greater demand for funding. And it’s the free events that are particularly at risk because they rely on sponsorship revenue that has not kept pace with production and labour costs that have skyrocketed by as much as 40 per cent since the COVID-19 pandemic, says Martin Roy, president of the Regroupement des événements majeurs internationaux, an association of major event organizers in Quebec.

Meanwhile, the two major sources of federal financial aid for festivals have largely stagnated, he said in a phone interview. While Quebec boosted funding for its festival aid program in 2022 — to $85 million over three years — the base budgets for the federal programs have sat at a combined $50.2 million for more than 15 years, Roy explained. Canada began injecting an additional $15 million per year into the programs in 2019, but those supplements are set to expire in the next two years.

The number of events that qualify for the federal programs has only increased, Roy said, meaning many long-time funding recipients have seen their allocations dwindle over time.