Up Here is grateful. After the downtown art and emerging music festival found out at the end of July that it would receive no provincial funding, key elements of the Aug. 18-20 event had to be cancelled.
Then, the community responded.
“We have some great news to share,” Up Here posted to its Facebook page Aug. 11. “Over the past couple weeks, we faced unexpected challenges, but through your unwavering community support and the steadfast commitment of our partners, we are thrilled to share a remarkable turn of events.
“The outpouring of support that we’ve received from hundreds of you was, and still is, truly overwhelming. We’ve received over $8,000 in donations from people across the city.”
Festival organizers also tipped their hat to the city and the Greater Sudbury Development Corporation for working with Up Here to find ways to ensure the event could still go ahead.
“The city’s inspired leadership and decisive action epitomizes the community spirit at the heart of Up Here,” the statement reads.
Thanks to the community support, some Up Here 9 programming that had been dropped can now proceed.
So what can go ahead?
For one, the mural artist Katie Green was to paint on the back of 84 Station on Elgin Street can go ahead.
“We were so bummed to have to cut her mural last week but are so frickin’ excited that she’s back. With gratitude for the vibrant legacy it holds, we'll be retiring Alexandra Mackenzie’s mural ‘Naturer’ from 2015.”
As well, the festival’s art installations can once again go back on full display, “enriching the festival experience with wonder, time weaving and portal parties.”
And finally, the community support ensures the festival will be “able to equitably pay crew members, our suppliers and our contractors.”
“As we move forward, we ask you to continue rallying by our side. We hope you’ll join us at the festival so we can thank you in person. Volunteer, host an artist, sponsor, buy tickets, spread the word, and contribute to our cause in whichever way works best for you.”
It was until the end of July as work was gearing up to put on Up Here that festival organizers learned then province wouldn’t be coming through with anticipated funding.
“We’ve gotten zero explanation other than the fund was oversubscribed,” We Live Up Here general manager Jaymie Lathem told Sudbury.com at the time. “With our track record and the large economic impact that we have within the north, and our progress of programming, and just the longevity and legacy of the murals we bring into this community, we really did not anticipate zero dollars.”
Last year, the organization received $66,600 from the province for a festival netting their largest-ever turnout, with 12,953 people coming out to enjoy their cultural activities. Of attendees, approximately 28 per cent were from out of town.
The previous year’s provincial funding totalled $69,000, and was preceded by $24,167 in 2020, $48,895 in 2019, $50,000 in 2018 and $45,000 in 2016.
The organizing committee did not apply for provincial funding in either 2017 and their inaugural year of 2015.
The non-profit We Live Up Here organization estimates the festivities have carried an overall economic impact of more than $5 million since their inaugural event in 2015.
A week or so later, the office of Tourism, Culture and Sport provided reasoning for the missing funds, alleging Up Here festival organizers submitted an incomplete funding application.
A written statement to this effect was submitted by the minister’s office to Sudbury.com after our second story about the province denying Up Here’s funding request.
Word of missing documentation came as a surprise to Lathem.
“This is the first we’re hearing of it,”she told Sudbury.com, taken aback to learn about it through media and not directly from the ministry.
The festival’s first correspondence from the ministry since submitting their funding application by the April deadline was on July 27, when they received a letter indicating their request was denied, not leaving organizers time to rectify the situation.
“They’d know (if we were missing documents) right away, they didn’t have to wait until (July 27) to tell us that,” Lathem said.
Up Here runs Aug. 18-20 in downtown Sudbury. For a full schedule of events, click here. For tickets, click here.
