Ontario Funds the Arts

CNW Telbec: "The three-year $7.5 million entertainment and creative cluster partnerships fund was launched today ...

"The fund will help Ontario's entertainment and creative industries grow and move into new markets by promoting new content development, innovative marketing and distribution, and skills training. The industries include film and television production, interactive digital media, music recording, commercial theatre, and magazine and book publishing. ....

"Ontario's entertainment and creative cluster contributes more than $6.7 billion to the provincial economy and generates over 36,000 jobs. The cluster includes fast-growing new media industries (e.g. digital special effects and interactive digital special effects and interactive productions like video and computer games) as well as artists, authors, musicians and filmmakers. Over the next two decades, job growth is expected to surpass most of Ontario's other thriving employment sectors."

Canadian Jazz festivals and their economic impact

The Toronto Downtown Jazz costs about $3.5 million (Canadian) to stage (paid for through ticket sales and sponsorships), but adds $20 million to the local economy. (Not that finding sponsors is ever easy: it took six people making pitches to 75 companies over 12 months to find three new sponsors.) The biggest cost is the entertainment. Jazz festivals in Ottawa and Montreal are held around the same time so that out-of-town artists can play all of them, making it more economical to fly them in.

The Montreal International Jazz Festival costs $20 million and generates at least $100 million for the local economy.

"The most recent economic impact study, by Festivals & Events Ontario, found that the top 17 festivals in Ontario have a combined financial impact of $345 million on the regional economy and create more than 10,000 full-time jobs annually. Smaller festivals generate on average between $400,000 and $2.7 million for local economies. Were even three major festivals to stop operating, more than $100 million would be lost to regional economies every year."

TheStar.com - Festivals give Ontario a financial boost