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A message from Martin Roy of FAME (Festivals and Major Events Canada)
The return to normal will not occur in 2021. It would be unrealistic to expect that we could restart our activities in full by next summer. We must convince public health authorities to approve innovative proposals which would allow us to maximize our capacity to generate profits and survive the crisis. The formulas employed by drive-in concerts and socially distanced concerts that we have already seen around the world can serve as a starting point for coming up with these types of ideas.
This is what we need the Federal government to recognize, and why we are today launching what we are calling the “Events Sector Support Campaign.”
Why now? Because the federal budget is currently being conceived, Minister Guilbeault will be making his Departmental asks to the Minister of Finance, and the party caucus will also be putting pressure on having the needs of their local communities addressed in the budget. Now is the time where decisions will be made for action in 2021, notably with regard to financial aid for festivals and events.
For this reason, we are asking for members to take the following action over the coming weeks:
If you have not already spoken with your local Member of Parliament since the beginning of the crisis, now is the time. We suggest that you communicate with your elected official to explain your situation in relation to some of FAME’s recommendations for Canada’s touristic and economic recovery. Specifically, we are hoping that you can ask your MP to speak with and write to both Ministers Guilbeault and Freeland (the Minister of Finance) in support of our recommendations.
To that end, we are providing a template that you can use and adapt as you see fit.
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