Vancouver Folk Music Festival announces it's delaying AGM to try to save event
After groundswell of support, board pauses motion to dissolve organization, pursuing options to revive 45-year-old summer tradition
Taj Mahal playing Vancouver Folk Music Festival 2022. Photo by David Niddrie, courtesy VFMF photography committee
IT APPEARS THAT THE groundswell of support that met the Vancouver Folk Music Festival’s cancellation has turned the tide—for now.
In an open letter today from the Vancouver Folk Music Festival board, the group said it would postpone its AGM—once scheduled for February 1—in an attempt to save the event.
Instead, the board is delaying the AGM to March 1, pausing the motion to dissolve the organization so it can pursue options for resuscitating the 45-year-old Jericho Beach Park summer concert event. The board also alluded to “several parties” who had offered to provide the financial help the organization needs.
“We all feel incredibly heartened by the response from the community and truly thank you all for the outpouring of emotion and honest opinions,” the statement today reads. “Since last week’s announcement, several parties have offered possible solutions to fund and support a Festival. This is very encouraging.”
Long-time festival goers, board members, staff, volunteers. and artists had issued a public call to save the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. In a public letter they signed January 22, they called on folk-fest fans to defeat the motion to dissolve the organization on February 1. “It seems a variety of challenges, mainly around production issues, have led them [the board] to feel there is no way forward without risking a great deficit,” the letter states. “They have kept their doubts to themselves and certainly have not asked the festival audience, or volunteers, or past staff and board members for help in resolving the perceived challenges….We feel that this haste to dissolve the society is not appropriate. It is easy to dissolve a society, but much more difficult to establish one, especially with charitable status. Long-term public funding relationships will end, the volunteer organization—the heart of the festival—will vanish, and the image of the festival will be forever tarnished.”
Last week the board announced it was cancelling this summer’s event and would propose dissolving the festival society at its upcoming AGM to ensure the society meets its fiduciary obligations. Stir earlier reported that the fest said even a surprise last-minute infusion of funds would be too late to produce the large-scale, multistage, outdoor concert this summer. The board added it would need to cover annual increases in costs for anywhere from $400,000 to $600,000. In the wake of COVID shutdowns, the fest found competition for some of its basic needs, such as tents and portable toilets, had increased from industries like construction and movie production in other parts of the province. Several costs went up to anywhere from 30 percent to 50 percent from the previous year.
Today, the board says in its letter: “We have letters of assurance that all our grants are being held and we are still in good standing with our previous funders. We want to ensure the future of the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, in whatever form it may take, is sustainable and able to operate in the new reality that we face.”
Here is the entire Open Letter from the board:
The groundswell of support for the Vancouver Folk Music Festival over the past eight days has been extraordinary. We have received numerous messages of love and support from our Festival attendees, dedicated volunteers, musicians who have graced our stages, past staff and Board members, other festivals, and beyond. We all feel incredibly heartened by the response from the community and truly thank you all for the outpouring of emotion and honest opinions. Since last week’s announcement, several parties have offered possible solutions to fund and support a Festival. This is very encouraging and the Board is actively engaging with these parties to see how these possibilities might be turned into reality. At this stage in our discussions, we must keep the details confidential. Given these developments, we have rescheduled the AGM previously scheduled for Wednesday, February 1st, 2023, to Wednesday, March 1st, 2023 and are pausing the motion to dissolve the Society while we explore possible options to save the Festival. An updated notice of the AGM to our Members is forthcoming. In place of the previously scheduled AGM on Feb 1st, 2023, a Town Hall will be held at the same time and location. It will be an opportunity for Members to ask questions and meet with the Board. Priority admission will be given to Members in good standing, and is based on room capacity. Information will be posted on our website shortly.
There have been many incredible musical highlights in the 45-year history of the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. Unfortunately, our financial history has seldom reflected the same harmony. In the spirit of transparency, we feel it is important for the community to know and understand that the Vancouver Folk Music Festival Society’s financial situation has long been untenable and this approach to the running of the Festival is unsustainable. In tandem with our tenuous financial situation, there has historically been strong opposition to corporate funding to support the festival. As views began to change on this, it became apparent that we were far behind the curve in building relationships with potential corporate funders in comparison to other festivals. In consultation with our festival counterparts, we know that these relationships take years to build before substantial funding can be secured. Although we have undertaken many cost-saving measures along with exploring options to increase funding while still upholding the values of the membership and responsibilities to artists, vendors, and suppliers; as a Board, we could not, in good conscience, agree to continue to allow the Festival to run into debt again. We have letters of assurance that all our grants are being held and we are still in good standing with our previous funders. We want to ensure the future of the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, in whatever form it may take, is sustainable and able to operate in the new reality that we face.
As we continue to work together as a Board, we want to assure you that we are considering every opportunity that is being brought forward to us. We are engaged in ongoing meetings and discussions, due in part to your commitment and desire to keep the Festival going. We thank you for this support. We would like nothing more than to keep the Festival alive, vibrant, and financially sustainable for the entire community. We are also dedicated to continuing to listen to you, the Vancouver Folk Music Festival supporters, as we work towards the future.
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