THEMUSEUM Receives $90,000 Through Celebrate Ontario

Ontario Boosting Tourism Through Festivals and Events

Support for Local Festivals and Events Creating Jobs, Building Vibrant Communities

Kitchener Centre MPP Daiene Vernile announced today that the following festivals and events in Waterloo Region are receiving support through the Celebrate Ontario program: Ontario is supporting five festivals and events in Waterloo Region to boost a growing tourism sector, create jobs and offer Ontario residents and tourists more reasons to discover and explore the province.

• THEMUSEUM will receive $90,000 for its Digital Dynamics Festival. This funding will increase the total number of artists and installations, add international artists, and increase the number of off-site art installations to enhance the tourist
• Kitchener Blues Community Inc. will receive $20,000 for the Kitchener Blues Festival. This funding will allow the festival to book a higher percentage of female performers and provide cohesive staging and
• The Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area will receive $17,250 for their project ARENA. The proposed enhancement will focus on an art installation featuring ARENA by Benoit Maubrey which is a unique, interactive
• Neruda Arts will receive $36,500 for the 2018 Kultrun World Music Festival. This funding will allow the festival to add “Heartbeat: Drumming from the Four Corners,” dedicate one of the two stages to women performers only, and to draw an estimated 500 tourists and increase overnight visitors by 10%.
• Drayton Entertainment will receive $122,745 for the production “The Little Mermaid.” This will add an eighth production to its programming in Waterloo/St. Jacobs, which includes the St. Jacobs Country Playhouse and Schoolhouse Theatre. This initiative will increase the number of youth and family tickets sold

This year, the province is supporting 328 festivals and events, the highest in the history of the program that celebrate Ontario’s diversity, heritage and culture. This investment will enhance programming, activities and services so that festivals and events can offer new experiences, reach new audiences and support jobs in their communities.

This year, 198 festivals and events receiving support will take place in rural or northern areas, and will showcase the diverse traditions that make these communities so unique.

Investing in festivals and events is part of Ontario’s plan to create fairness and opportunity during this period of rapid economic change. The plan includes a higher minimum wage and better working conditions, free tuition for hundreds of thousands of students, easier access to affordable child care, and free prescription drugs for everyone under 25 through the biggest expansion of medicare in a generation.

 “Our government’s continued support for festivals and events is an investment in the livelihood of communities all across Ontario. Festivals and events are powerful economic drivers and play an important role in bringing communities together. Our diverse events give visitors and Ontario residents a reason to visit, discover and experience the riches of this wonderful province, and showcase all that we have to offer right here in Waterloo Region.”
—  Daiene Vernile, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport

 “We thank the government of Ontario for this investment and for identifying our initiative as important. This support will allow us to expand the festival and include more artists and world- class experiences which will continue to attract tourists. In addition, through collaboration with stellar community partners such as CIGI and Christie Digital, we are able to add to this Region’s narrative and brand with art & technology at play.”
—  David Marskell, CEO, THEMUSEUM

 “Diversifying our programming is imperative to our long-term sustainability, and enables us to focus on audience development – specifically, cultivating new audiences, attracting first-time attendees to our theatres, and bringing visitors to the region. We are grateful to the Government of Ontario for investing in festivals and events that make our community a better place to live, work and play.”
—  Steven Karcher, Executive Director, Drayton Entertainment 

 “Celebrate Ontario funding makes it possible for CAFKA to work with sound sculptor Benoit Maubrey and to create his exciting new interactive artwork ARENA. ARENA will be both a sculpture and community event. It will bring together many people from the community in its construction, and when complete, it will be a focal point for public performance and a community gathering place. CAFKA greatly appreciates the support of Celebrate Ontario.”
—  Gordon Hatt, Executive Director, Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area

 “Neruda Arts is very pleased to receive Celebrate Ontario funding. Our World Music Festival Kultrun, aims to bring the most inclusive cultural experience to our region with high caliber local, national and international bands and artists. We bring the world to Victoria Park and the world is responding! Year after year the festival grows and this couldn’t be done without the support of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport.”
—  Isabel Cisterna, Artistic Director, Neruda Arts

QUICK FACTS

• Ontario is investing more than $20 million in the Celebrate Ontario 2018 program to support 328 festivals and events, the highest number in the history of the
• In 2018, the Ontario government will support five Celebrate Ontario festivals and events in Waterloo
• Past recipients’ data shows that every $1 of Celebrate Ontario funding triggers $21 in visitor expenditures.
• Tourism is an important economic driver, supporting nearly 400,000 jobs and generating over $32 billion of economic activity.
• As part of the commitment made in Ontario’s Strategic Framework for Tourism and Tourism Action Plan, the government improved the Celebrate Ontario program to further streamline the application process, focus on results and improve alignment to better support communities across

LEARN MORE

 Celebrate Ontario recipients

Celebrate Ontario success stories

Explore more ways to discover Ontario

Strategic Framework for Tourism

Rebecca Wagner
Office of Daiene Vernile, MPP
Kitchener Centre
Unit 3-379 Queen St. S
Kitchener, ON
N2G 1W6
rwagner@liberal.ola.org

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