Festivals exploding in Calgary

Pushing his baby girl’s stroller on a parched, overgrown path in Prince’s Island Park circa 1970, George Brookman recalls taking in the relaxed, small gathering at one of Calgary’s first folk festivals.
“We’d sit there, in the dust, on a blanket, eating hotdogs,” laughs Brookman, a longtime Calgarian and Stampede volunteer.
“Compare that to what I saw a month ago. Standing near one of the stages, I just could not believe all the people.
“The changes we’ve seen in festivals – they’re so much bigger, so much more sophisticated.”

In a city once thought to be filled with conservative oil-patchers looking for the next game ticket, Brookman and other longtime festival fans say a younger, hipper, more diverse population is creating an exciting evolution in music, film and cultural festivals.
“There’s been a real renaissance in recent years, and it speaks to the vibrancy of the city,” says Coun. Druh Farrell, adding that the innercity ward she’s represented since 2001 has seen an explosion of local festivals.
“There’s growth in all directions, really. It’s a reflection of how our arts community has grown, and how our city’s diversity has grown.”
With that, Farrell adds, has come not just huge growth in traditional gatherings such as the Calgary Folk Music Festival or Carifest, which kicks off Saturday, but the addition of eclectic new festivals, including Sled Island, Beakerhead and Nuit Blanche.
The growth seems to have reached a fever pitch in just the past decade, with the addition of increased civic funding to support festivals, along with less bureaucratic red tape allowing groups to speed up applications and use public space along with city services in kind.
“Festivals are this amazing equalizer. They can include everyone, large amounts of people that can experience something amazing together,” says Patti Pon, CEO for the Calgary Arts Development Authority.
“So they become this wonderful mechanism for building community, for getting to know the people we live with. And that makes for a prosperous city, a city people want to live in.”
Created in 2006 as an extension of the former Calgary Regional Arts Foundation, the authority has infused increased grants and cash support into civic activities that promote the arts, including festivals.
“It’s had a catalytic effect that’s been centred around the creation of a better arts policy, and developing a strategic approach to the arts,” says Pon.
In fact, investment in festivals through CADA’s operating grant program has more than doubled over the past decade, from about $270,000 in 2005 to about $700,000 in 2013.
In addition to those funds, the city provided $900,000 in 2010 for a new “event stimulus” program to help kick start new events and enhance existing ones.
In conjunction with CADA’s efforts, the city’s culture division has also been a big support, festival organizers say, from streamlining applications to providing services in kind.
“If you want a vital city, you need that vital element. It’s what makes us one of the top-five most-livable cities in the world,” says Teresa Byrne, superintendent of festivals and events. “We focus not just on making a living, but on making a life.”
The annual number of events and festivals has steadily risen over the years in Calgary, with about 239 celebrated in 2010 compared with as many as 278 projected for 2014.
But Byrne says it’s important to note the big spike in multi-day events, making the total number of event days projected for 2014 as high as 577, compared with the 477 total event days recorded in 2010.
But at the end of the day, experts agree it’s the diversity of interests that’s made city festivals the biggest success, creating a variety of entertainment that’s hugely supported by a more diverse Calgary audience.
A festival pioneer that’s now become one of the city’s biggest annual events, the Calgary Folk Music Festival, is a prime example of the growth of diverse interests in the city, and the festival’s offerings have grown to reflect that, says arts director Kerry Clarke.
“The programs we provide fit into the young, hip culture that’s grown in Calgary.
“With the folk festival, we’ve been able to capture the city’s interest by capturing the culture of the city.”
Brookman agrees, adding that as more young workers from all over Canada and the world arrive in Calgary for job opportunities and to raise young families, more are looking for something interesting to do on the weekend that doesn’t cost very much, but also helps them meet their neighbours.
“We’ve had more diversity in the city now than we’ve ever had,” Brookman said.
“And with a festival, everyone, from every socio-economic level, can come. Everyone feels like they’re part of something.
“It builds community, and that’s what makes a city great.”