GlobalFest pauses ticket sales as affordability, politics squeeze festivals

Fireworks atop the water of Elliston Park during the 2019 edition of GlobalFest. (image: Mike Cheong)

A staple Calgary summer festival is temporarily closing the ticket-sale tent flap as it struggles to survive, becoming yet one more party-planner walking a fraying financial tight rope in the era of shrinking affordability.

GlobalFest has been celebrating multiculturalism through fireworks, pavilions, food kiosks and shows for almost a quarter century.

Last year, it was 11,000 tickets short compared with a year earlier, about a quarter-million-dollar gut punch to the organization’s bottom line, said Ken Goosen, GlobalFest CEO.

This week, Goosen announced they are putting a six-week pause on ticket sales as they try to shore up their financial situation.

In an interview, Goosen said the cost of living weighed on festivalgoers and he believes weather played a role leading up to the event.

But part of the issue was also geopolitics: an American fireworks team opened the festival, and Goosen said people stayed away from that first act as the tenuous relationship between Canada and the U.S. tested patrons’ patriotism.

While Goosen said he hopes the festival isn’t at the beginning of its end, “one never knows.”

“We just really want to truly be in a very good place to then reopen and then to move forward,” he said.

Goosen said an angel investor would be an ideal, but highly unlikely, saviour.

Speaking to reporters earlier this week, Arts and Culture Minister Tanya Fir touted the festival and said the Alberta government has given GlobalFest nearly $780,000 since 2019 through grants.

She encouraged organizations facing financial hardship to apply for community and arts funding with the province.

Fir was uncertain how many other festivals are under the same pressures as GlobalFest, but acknowledged their roles in supporting cultural diversity in the city.

Other fests feel the strain

GlobalFest is not alone among festivals and celebrations that are buckling or being tested under financial strain.

On Monday, the Rock the Kootenays music festival in Cranbrook, B.C., said it would cancel its 2026 performance, with the city reporting a $14,000 net loss on this year’s event after bringing in tens of thousands of dollars in the two years prior.

Likewise, the Regina Folk Festival shut down permanently earlier this year after more than a half century, citing financial challenges.

“I’m not going to say that’s been an easy time in show business,” said Cindy McLeod, Calgary International Blues Festival producer and artistic director.

Costs have gone up across the spectrum, she said, from porta-potty and fence rentals to the fees to bring musical artists to town.

And raising ticket prices would test the wallets of attendees who may be struggling to make ends meet.

McLeod said there are few ways she can cut back on further costs.

She is the sole staff member and has already made slashes to programming, she said.

Some other festivals in Calgary say while they’re not necessarily thriving, they aren’t in fear of flatlining.

Expo Latino, the main festival from Calgary’s Hispanic Art Society, experimented with cutting admission for one of three days this past year, said president and artistic director Mariela Parra.

It packed the festival.

But that’s a calculation that depends on how much revenue and grants they expect to bring in.

“At the end of the day, you need to pay for a production, right?” she said.

Kodi Hutchinson, executive and artistic director for JazzYYC, considers the jazz hub’s situation stable, despite fewer sponsorship opportunities, government funding falling behind rising expenses as well as the cost of business with the U.S. and the public scrutiny of American artists.

“We’re being very intentional about how many shows we can present and what ticket prices audiences can absorb in an uncertain economy,” he said.

Dayne Patterson, The Canadian Press