Music
The government will not help pay for Drake's OVO Fest
by Tyler Munro
April 10, 2015
Last year, people who are dumb flipped out over news that Drake’s annual OVO bash would be getting a $300,000 grant from Celebrate Ontario. This year, they can take solace: Ontario’s Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport has released a list of the festivals it’s funding in 2015 and 2016, and OVO’s not on there.
Instead, as Exclaim points out, they’re dolling out money to Canadian Music Week, Field Trip, Sound of Music Festival, NXNE’s Yonge-Dundas Square program, Ottawa Jazzfest, Ottawa Bluesfest, Hillside and more.
So is that better, or worse? There’s no right answer. But when reviewing these kinds of things it’s important to consider that this isn’t money being taken from, say, fixing roads or building hospitals. It’s money specifically allocated to tourism, culture, and everything else in the Ministry’s lengthy title listed above.
Either Drake gets some, like he did last year, or festivals sponsored by banks do. Or, in most cases, they both do.
