cktimes.ca Archives for Cultural Musings on Chatham-Kent
Cultural Musings on Chatham-Kent
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
The current decision (and we guess it's a "done deal") by the Chatham-Kent Council to provide the Festival of Nations Committee close to a quarter of a million dollars to operate an expanded "Woodstock" version of this annual summer festival causes us some concern.We have always been strong supporters of this festival, as well as any other festival in Chatham-Kent, that highlights the arts, culture and heritage of our area; however, we are worried about the dangerous precedent this sets for future festivals within Chatham-Kent.
What is to stop Wallaceburg's WAMBO, the Ridgetown Art In The Park Festival, or Blenheim's Cherry Festival or Pain Court's Farm Fest, or any other similar event in CK, to go to the Municipal Council and ask for a few hundred thousand dollars to offer their own version of "LollaPalooza"?
Now granted the Festival Of Nations has always been considered to be the "protected child" of the former City of Chatham and has, over the years, received in excess of a hundred thousand dollars in order to keep it out of debt and up and running. However, when does the statue of limitations expire now that we are all part of the happy family of Chatham-Kent and are dedicated to sharing all things in a fair and equitable manner?
Now we sincerely and fervently hope that this year's Festival of Nations will attract thousands and thousands of people and that it earns enough money to pay off all debts and have enough left over to operate for years to come; however, what happens if this three day event does not attract huge numbers of people.
Let's suppose that the Festival attracts a goodly number of people, let's say 5000 people, which is a large number for an event held on a holiday weekend when there are many other competing events ( ie, Freedom Festival etc.). At $30.00 per person that amounts to 150,000 dollars but it still leaves a rather large amount owing to the Municipality of Chatham Kent with no obvious means of recouping.
When all things are taken into consideration, it could very well be that the Festival will still owe around one hundred thousand dollars to CK Council. That seems to us to be a rather substantial expenditure for our municipality. After all, is it not the common cry at all council meetings is that we MUST cut costs, positions, programs and services in order to survive these tough times? And yet.....a loan approaching a quarter of a million dollars will be given for a three day event in one area of the municipality ?? We are a bit puzzled!
When we started Heritage Days back in 1992, we went to the former City of Chatham Council and made a presentation. The first words from our mouths at that meeting were..."We are NOT here to ask you for money. We are here to ask for your moral support and your blessings." And we know that almost every other festival in Chatham-Kent feels the same way.
Heritage Days, as a group, have always felt that if we cannot survive as a festival based on our own revenues then we should either alter our focus or cease to exist. Why should we be a burden on others in the Municipality? We would rather put our festival out of its misery rather than be a burden upon the rest of our community.
We feel that the Festival of Nations Committee should adopt the same principles of operation. Personally, we would like to see an ALL local version of this Festival. Entertain us with local ethnic dance, song and food. Use this venue to highlight all the wondrous talent in this community. Let's make it an old fashioned community summer picnic. We do not have to bring in groups costing us eighty thousand dollars nor do we have to pack the Tecumseh Park with thousands and thousands of people to break even.
Why not pay a local group eight hundred dollars and be content with a few thousand people paying, instead of thirty dollars, ten dollars? The original Festival of Nations idea was a terrific one and I think that most of Chatham-Kent would support such a return to its roots.
What Chatham-Kent will not support is a local festival costing citizens, who never have and never will attend this festival, a quarter of a million dollars.
Jim and Lisa Gilbert are local, national and international award winning educators and historians.
