Beaches Jazz Festival organizer launches petition to save funding

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.

“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.

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