Vancouver Fringe Festival receives $520,000 investment from Canadian Heritage

Earlier this year, a successful 40th anniversary fundraiser helped pull the organization out of financial uncertainty

By Janet Smith

Vancouver Fringe Festival celebrated 40 years at its event on Granville Island last September.

CANADIAN HERITAGE HAS announced a $520,000 investment in the Vancouver Fringe Festival Society.

Vancouver Granville MP Taleeb Noormohamed, Parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, made the announcement today on Granville Island, where the fest is headquartered.

The Canada Arts Presentation Fund support spans the next two years, including $300,000 in direct supplemental support as part of Budget 2024. It came from an additional $31 million in supplemental funding from 2024 to 2026 for the Canada Arts Presentation Fund to help support professional arts presenters and series.

Vancouver Fringe executive director Duncan Watts-Grant said the new investment was essential to help the fest pull fully out of the effects of the pandemic after a close financial call earlier this year.

“As the second-oldest fringe festival on the continent, the Vancouver Fringe Festival is dedicated to supporting artists,” he said in the announcement today. “This funding from the Government of Canada plays a vital role in our ongoing recovery from the impacts of the pandemic and will directly benefit independent and emerging artists in advancing their artistry and careers."

Like festivals around the country, the Fringe has struggled with increasing costs and decreasing donations and sponsorships since COVID shutdowns ended. In May of this year, the Fringe Festival announced it would have to cut its programming by a third for 2024, launching a fundraiser amid financial uncertainty. At that point, the organization that returns 100 percent of ticket profits to artists had to raise $80,000 by May 31 to continue running. “Since 2022, we’ve been drawing on our savings to produce the Festival, and this isn’t sustainable,” Watts-Grant said at the time.

But by the time the Fringe announced its 40th anniversary programming for this past September’s installment of the festival, it had raised enough support to host a bigger event than expected, with a program that spanned 74 companies.

"The Vancouver Fringe Theatre Society plays an essential role in nurturing British Columbia's performing arts community, providing a diverse stage for independent artists and performers as well as emerging talent,” Noormohamed said in the announcement today.  

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