Hamilton’s music industry is reacting after the Ford government announced it plans to cut the Ontario Music Fund by more than half.
The provincial government says it’s reducing the fund from $15 million to $7 million as it reviews the program.
A spokesperson for Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport Michael Tibollo released a statement saying the government is looking to “modernize” the Ontario Music Fund (OMF) “to focus on activities that bring the biggest return to the province, and refocus its investments into emerging talent to create opportunities to achieve success.”
Mark Furukawa, owner of Hamilton record store Dr. Disc and chair of the Hamilton Music Advisory Team, says he’s not sure what that means.
“When they try and say, ‘We’re going to identify the things that have the most economic impact,’ well, obviously that’s what you want to do,” said Furukawa. “I’m sure every application for funding, I’m sure that’s what the adjudicators do when they’re scrutinizing it. They’re not going to give you money to make eight-tracks.”
Hamilton’s own Arkells are among the musicians who have benefitted from the Ontario Music Fund. Furukawa says the OMF helps bands and musicians expand their reach when they tour, which is where musicians make the bulk of their revenue in an era of digital streaming.
“Canada is such a huge country and they have tremendous expenses travelling across the country. So the money from the fund would enable these artists to either tour, period, or increase the size of their tour or the geographic range of their tour.”
There is a concern that the slashed funding will have an impact on some of Hamilton’s local music festivals, including Supercrawl, the Burlington Sound of Music Festival, and Waterdown’s Artsfest. Last year, Supercrawl Productions received $150,000, while the Sound of Music Festival received $130,000 and Artsfest was given $60,000.
Furukawa says Tim Potocic and Mark Milne, who started Supercrawl, as well as Sonic Unyon Records, will find ways to make up for the lost funding but says it’s still a significant loss, especially when considering expenses like policing in the area during the weekend.
“Overall, it’s a really shining huge accomplishment to have a free festival like that in the city for a weekend once a year. It’s just incredible. So for them to be limited by the short-sightedness of our current provincial government, I think it’s just really a crime.”