100 replies to this topic

[VicHockeyFan]

Oh, hold on...

 

Official launch: Friday, November 04, 2016

To the residents of Greater Victoria and beyond!

Thank you for your interest in supporting us! We have lost roughly 25% of our 2017 budget due to a decision by Tourism Victoria to no longer provide winter funding support to our Festival Society.  This news comes at the beginning of our very busy off-season and we have relied on this funding to maintain our winter operations until our established grant and sponsorships funding begin arriving in spring.

 

 

https://www.gofundme...victoriabuskers

[Jill]

Wait, what? The DVBA is planning its own buskers festival?

[VicHockeyFan]

Wait, what? The DVBA is planning its own buskers festival?

 

4 days before Vickers'.

[rjag]

yup, its ugly, the DVBA have pulled the rug from under Vickers and Tourism Victoria and a few others played along. All I can say at this time is there is a lot of strong personalities at play here and it wont end well. The DVBA is behind this

[Mike K.]

Does Kelly's departure have any bearing on this?

[VicHockeyFan]

Does Kelly's departure have any bearing on this?

 

I'd think it would probably play into it.  But the whole board would be part of it.

 

There will always be a bit of tension when a private operator (Vickers) is receiving government and agency (hotels) grant money.  Then criticizing the City and DVBA a little bit (bleachers sale, amalgamation, Government St. closure).

[Jill]

I've attended Vickers's festival three times. It's fantastic. We still talk about acts we saw at the first festival. Whatever is behind this, it reflects really poorly on the DVBA, and unless someone knows some dirt on Vickers beyond him complaining about the bleacher sale, etc., I'm TEAM VICKERS.

[VicHockeyFan]

I've attended Vickers's festival three times. It's fantastic. We still talk about acts we saw at the first festival. Whatever is behind this, it reflects really poorly on the DVBA, and unless someone knows some dirt on Vickers beyond him complaining about the bleacher sale, etc., I'm TEAM VICKERS.

 

Are you Team Vickers if the DVBA and the oher partners think they can pull it of for $50,000 less (ie. no salary to Vickers, office space etc.)?  

 

On the other hand, if the new DVBA events position guy just needs something to do, you would think they'd do something different than just disrupting this event right away.

[Mike K.]

I wouldn't be surprised if legal action were taken. Days apart, similar name, nearly identical attractions.

[VicHockeyFan]

I wouldn't be surprised if legal action were taken. Days apart, similar name, nearly identical attractions.

 

The bigger issue is that they are likely vying for the same performers/acts too.

[Mike K.]

I guess that $50,000 in savings will be the first deposit to the DVBA's buskers festival legal fund.

[Jill]

Are you Team Vickers if the DVBA and the oher partners think they can pull it of for $50,000 less (ie. no salary to Vickers, office space etc.)?  

 

On the other hand, if the new DVBA events position guy just needs something to do, you would think they'd do something different than just disrupting this event right away.

 

I'm Team Vickers unless someone proves he's abusive to staff, volunteers, buskers or misappropriating funds or committing some other criminal act. The fact that the DVBA decides to hold an identical event so close to Vickers's just seems really nasty to me -- and I believe some would consider me a nasty woman, so I know what I'm talking about.

[VicHockeyFan]

4 days before Vickers'.

 

Oh, hold on, they even overlap.  The new one is July 11-16, the former is 14-23.

[Nparker]

Holy busker overload Batman! 

[VicHockeyFan]

First, word $40,000 in funding from Tourism Victoria isn’t being renewed.

 

“Especially in light of the success of the Buskers Festival, it certainly came as a shock,” said John Vickers, executive director of the Victoria International Buskers Festival Society.

....

 

“Victoria would have two simultaneous buskers festivals, with busk stops simultaneously belonging to different festivals, it’s all a very confusing situation,” said Vickers.

 

DVBA spokesperson Kerri Milton said “we are not commenting under advisement from legal counsel”, adding “more to come as it all unfolds”.

 

Victoria’s mayor isn’t ready to pick a side.

 

” I think if we’ve got successful buskers in our downtown it’s great, I’m not going to weigh into the politics of different organizations in this town,” said Mayor Lisa Helps.

 

But city council may have to.

 

If both buskers festival groups apply for a city grant, Helps admits they will only be able to fund one.

 

“Council is probably not going to fund two buskers festival, that seems a bit odd,” she said.

 

http://www.cheknews....ictoria-237596/

[SusanJones]

My family feels bad for Mr. Festival, his festivals bring people together, demonstrate community working together and are a fine example of very important lessons for children such as anti-bullying.  

Who are the people that are putting on the 'other' buskers festival?  

Who are the groups, the board members, and members?  

I can't fathom why these groups and their members think this is necessary.  

More to come on this for certain.

[VicHockeyFan]

My family feels bad for Mr. Festival, his festivals bring people together, demonstrate community working together and are a fine example of very important lessons for children such as anti-bullying.  

Who are the people that are putting on the 'other' buskers festival?  

Who are the groups, the board members, and members?  

I can't fathom why these groups and their members think this is necessary.  

More to come on this for certain.

 

 

 

But Paul Nursey, president of Tourism Victoria, said his organization has yet to commit to financial support of the new festival.

 

“We’re in that phase right now,” he said. “We may choose to do in-kind sponsorships around hotel rooms; we may choose to do sponsorships. But we’re not there yet.”

 

He confirmed, however, that Tourism Victoria has decided to end its financial relationship with the existing festival, which it has supported since 2012. He said the cash and in-kind contributions ranged from about $30,000 to $50,000 annually.

 

“”We just found as sponsors that the business model provided by this operator was not sustainable,” he said, describing the new festival as the “right size” and affordable.

 

“It’s governed by boards of industry, so it doesn’t rely on any individual or character,” he said. “We have broad governance. So that’s why the change in the business model.”

 

- See more at: http://www.timescolo...h.T8uhSQVi.dpuf

 

Press release:

 

 

“Tourism Victoria is pleased to be supporting the DVBA in this exciting new endeavor. We strongly believe this is a right-sized, affordable and sustainable model going forward to ensure that our guests in July have a vibrant experience in the downtown core,” says Paul Nursey, President and CEO of Tourism Victoria. “Festivals are one of many drivers of visitation to our destination and we are pleased to see a strong organization such as the DVBA lead this initiative.”

 

 

I think new DVBA Executive Director Kerri Milton just made her first major, and very public error with the handling of this.

[Mike K.]

DVBA spokesperson Kerri Milton said “we are not commenting under advisement from legal counsel”, adding “more to come as it all unfolds”. 

I'm quite certain downtown businesses are not interested in paying the DVBA's legal bills over something as silly as a copy-cat festival.

[VicHockeyFan]

Someone sounds like a politician:

 

 

Kerri Milton, executive director of the DVBA, said the new buskers festival will be “completely different” from the current one.

 

“A buskers festival, if you do research, actually comes in a whole lot of different forms,” she said. “The one that we have currently — the international one — is not the only way the buskers festivals around the world are run.”

 

 

- See more at: http://www.timescolo...i.Qy9eFeeW.dpuf

 

Oh yes, the extremely wide and diverse world of busker festivals.

[Mike K.]

According to the International Association of International Buskers Festivals, southwest Canada division, southern Vancouver Island chapter, she's right.