ABOVE: Beaches Jazz Festival organizer launches petition to save funding. Carey Marsden reports.
This post has been updated to properly identify the individual behind the petition as a festival organizer.
TORONTO – A Beaches Jazz Festival organizer has launched an online petition to urge Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne to restore funding to the free summer event after its request for a $120,000 grant was rejected.
The festival, which attracted an estimated 500,000 people last year, received $75,000 from the Celebrate Ontario program in each of the last six years.
Organizers were told on March 13 that they would no longer receive the funding this time around.
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“This year, the festival is in danger of being drastically reduced in size and scope,” reads the petition, posted at change.org by Joanna Katchutas, the festival’s Multi-Arts and Photography program coordinator.
Critics argued the move seemed odd as the governing Liberals awarded a $300,000 grant to multimillionaire rap star Drake to stage his two-day OVO Fest in Toronto this summer.
BELOW: The Beaches Jazz Festival has been denied a provincial grant it has received in the past. Carey Marsden reports on March 20.
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Tourism Minister Michael Chan defended the decision on Monday, saying Celebrate Ontario is a competitive program, which attracted 441 applications last year, and supports many events across the province.
“Unfortunately this year, the jazz festival, the proposal they submitted – they were not able to make it,” he said.
-with files from John R. Kennedy and The Canadian Press
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