John Tory intervenes for local music fest

Red tape faced by low-key Great Heart Festival shows the mayor has yet to get the city bureaucracy to sing from his “Music City” playbook.

Thestar.com
May 31, 2015
By Ben Spurr

Mayor John Tory had to step in to help a local acoustic festival navigate the municipal bureaucracy this week - an indication, he admits, that Toronto still has some way to go before it’s transformed into “Music City.”

Organizers of the Great Heart Festival had been facing about $2,500 in fees to hold the low-key event in Trinity Bellwoods Park from June 18 to 21. But after the mayor learned of the situation on Thursday, he intervened and the cost was reduced to about $1,300.

Tory is pledging the city will use the incident as a learning experience in his quest to turn Toronto into a global hotbed for the music industry.

“We’ve agreed to do better going forward,” the mayor said in an interview. “[The Great Heart Festival is] the kind of thing that’s going to have to happen if Toronto is going to be Music City.”

Tory said that to make it easier for musicians to obtain permits, he has instructed that from now on there be “direct and immediate” communication between the parks department and the city’s new music office whenever someone applies for a music-related event in a public park.

The four-day Great Heart festival, held every year since 2010, is a pared-down affair. There’s no stage, the musicians aren’t amplified, and the concerts are free. The event is run by the Young Lions Music Club, an independent promotions company, and Humble Empire, which makes music videos. Past performers have included popular acts like the Sheepdogs, the Born Ruffians, and Wooden Sky.

The festival used to be part of North by Northeast, which applied and paid for the permits for Trinity Bellwoods. But in 2013 the city rejected the application, and according to Young Lions’ Bobby Kimberley, the festival had to “go rogue.”

Two years ago it went ahead without a permit, and last year organizers obtained a last-minute “social gathering” permission from the city to use the park. Kimberley said they wanted to apply for the same type of permit this year, but were told they had to get an “outdoor special event” designation instead.

Not only was the special event permit more expensive, but only registered non-profit organizations are eligible. That meant Great Heart had to find a non-profit to apply on its behalf. The festival started an Indiegogo campaign to raise the $2,500, which included $1,580 for the special event permit, $650 for insurance, $100 for a noise exemption, and taxes.

Kimberley is happy the cost has since been lowered, but he still thinks it’s too onerous to require the festival to apply through a non-profit. He also contends that Great Heart isn’t loud enough to need a noise exemption, and argues that it doesn’t meet the city’s definition of a “special event.” The criteria include the presence of food vendors, and the use of speakers and stages.

“We trust that moving forward they’re going to work with us to use our festival as an example and try to fix things,” Kimberley said. “The mayor himself agrees that there’s a bunch of bureaucracy and red tape here that makes it really difficult for groups like us to exist.”

Local Councillor Mike Layton supports Great Heart, but says the permit system is necessary to pay for maintenance and ensure that park space isn’t double-booked. He points out that while organizers won’t profit directly from the festival, they are private entities and it’s only fair to charge them something for the use of public space.

Layton attended last year’s edition of the festival and confirmed it had a “good vibe.”