Going into 2010 Squamish’s arts fest goes quiet

What happened to Wild at Art, the festival that was supposed to be Squamish’s contribution to the cultural Olympiad?

It began five years ago with the blessing (and funding) from the District and the goal of the festival, which began modestly as a weekend festival in the Adventure Centre, was to build each year leading up to 2010.

That goal seemed to be on track when former coordinator Carolyn Grass took over as coordinator for the festival’s 2007 and 2008 iterations. In 2007 the festival grew out of the Adventure Centre and grew into the West Coast Heritage Railway Park’s massive car shop building. The space became a fusion of Squamish’s industrial past and a showcase of its growing arts community today.

But that was just one venue; downtown Gelato Carina offered live music every night for the festival’s week long run and featured acts from acoustic folk to punk (complete with mosh pit – yes there was a mosh pit at Gelato Carina, we kid you not).

In the festival’s final weekend two tents were erected downtown at the corner of Winnipeg Street and Cleveland Avenue, one for an under cover farmer’s market and the other as a venue for the Paper Boys. And on the final night the Brackendale Art Gallery held a poetry slam contest, sponsored by Quest University and had local Ivan Hughes performing as emcee in full jester regalia.

That year set the bar high but Grass and other volunteers were determined to out do themselves again in 2008. That year they stretched the festival to 10 days (the goal was to have the festival run the entire 17 days of the Olympics in 2010) and added Totem Hall as a venue, and organizers brought in the internationally acclaimed singing group Delhi to Duhblin. Again the Paper Boys played on a downtown stage, this time all of Cleveland Avenue was blocked off for the performance and popular cooking demonstrations and wine tastings were added at the Adventure Centre. The only real criticisms of the festival was that it had perhaps programmed too much, nevertheless Wild at Art was staying true to its goal of becoming a world class arts festival by 2010.

Yet even while enjoying increasing success at growing the festival, money and funding, as always, was a growing problem. When the festival was a small two day affair a District Grant in Aid of a couple of thousands dollars was more than enough to fund the project. But it soon became clear that to grow the festival the District would not be able to keep up with Wild at Art’s funding requests, which topped out at $15,000.

Volunteers did step up as they have always done in Squamish, but paying for performers and equipment rentals still required significant sums of money and ticket sales could not be relied on to cover costs as performers had to be paid in advance if the festival wanted to book them. As well, aside from Gelato Carina, all venues had some costs attached to them for heating, lighting and staff.

So where to go for funding? The federal and provincial governments were the obvious choice but their grants are far from straightforward, various government agencies do provide funding to arts groups but often under stringent criteria, and add to that the usual difficulty in navigating the bureaucratic labyrinth and you can imagine the difficulties facing a new and ambitious arts fest in obtaining government funding.

What about VANOC, aren’t they supposed to sponsor the Cultural Olympiad? Yes and no, they do in the host cities of Vancouver and Whistler and as most Squamish residents know, while we lie smack in the middle of the two host cities, we’re still not officially part of the club. Still VANOC did come through with a $10,000 grant in 2008, one of only two the festival received despite fifteen grant applications in total (not including the District’s Grant in Aid).

In 2009 Grass stepped down as coordinator but her recommendation to the festival’s board at the time was to find a professional coordinator to replace her, since as she noted from her experience, coordinating Wild at Art was very much a full time job and to grow the festival further it would require more than volunteer hours on the part of the coordinator.

However as she says that is not the direction the board decided to go. “I suggested we find funds to hire a professional, that was my recommendation when I stepped down, instead I wasn’t replaced at all, just the board is running the festival,” Grass told Garibaldi Times.

“This was supposed to be Squamish’s showcase during the Olympics and that is not what it’s going to be, it’s going to be very downscale. What can you do, it’s a shame, it’s sad for Squamish, this was our opportunity to be on the map.”

Grass was also mystified as to why the District would not continue funding the festival. 

“They asked for this festival and now they won’t provide any grant money. In the past three years we’ve received $15,000, we asked for $25,000, so that was at least reasonable, but now they are saying it’s not their responsibility.”

In 2009 the festival began its own fundraiser, a songwriting contest which aimed to raise funds through CD sales while promoting local talent and inspiring local content.  The festival was already scaled down considerably from the previous two years, although the popular gala at the railway park’s car shop was still held and featured the premier of local musician Dana-Marie Battaglia’s winning song ‘The Changing Valley’, which she wrote about the changes seen in the Sea to Sky Corridor (you can view a video of the performance at www.squamishonline.com).  The railway park remained the festival’s main gallery space.

So where is the festival in 2010 – the year the previous five had been building too? It’s hard to say since even Wild at Art President and Chairperson, Sonia Lebans couldn’t answer that question.

“There will be a family fun day at Brennan Park,” said Lebans when asked about Wild at Art.

And what about the arts, since it is after all an arts fest? “Oh there will be some artists performing I suppose at various venues around town,” said Lebans about the festival’s arts programming. Which explains, as some have rumoured, the reasons for the District’s reluctance to fund the festival.  From Lebans’ stance, it would appear there isn’t a festival to fund.

The board  has decided for reasons unknown to lower the festival’s profile and restrict media coverage, a strange tactic during an Olympic year when more visitors than ever will be visiting the Sea to Sky Corridor.

Gregory Fischer the proprietor of Gelato Carina, who formally sat on the Wild at Art board said as far as he can see the festival is missing in action. “Apparently there is some funding for venues to hire performers but I haven’t been approached or heard anything concrete about it,” said Fischer adding that he feels the festival appears to have simply given up.

Not all have given up though, Angela Heck, one of the principals behind the Media Arts Society of Squamish, which puts on the growing Mountain Fest every summer has proposed a Satire & Sarcasm Festival for Squamish during the Olympics.

“Yes it’s serious, you can blame Cathryn Atkinson (local journalist) it was her idea,” said Heck.

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