From our portfolio of successful results: Former Caribana now called Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2011/05/25/former_caribana_now_called_scotiabank_caribbean_carnival_toronto.html

Former Caribana now called Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto

By HENRY STANCU STAFF REPORTER

Wed., May 25, 2011

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It’s more of a mouthful than it used to be.

Caribana, the celebration of Caribbean culture that brings more than a million people to the streets of Toronto each summer, has a new name. The 44th annual event will now be known as the Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto, organizers announced Wednesday.

Cyrese King, centre in red, dances on Lake Shore Blvd. during the Caribana Parade in Toronto on Aug. 2, 2008. (AARON HARRIS / CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO)

Mike Colle, MPP for Eglinton-Lawrence, announced a $400,000 provincial “investment” in the carnival.

Councilor Joe Mihevc said the city will contribute “just under $500,000 in cash as well as $100,000 of relief of permit fees.”

The name change, ordered earlier this month by the Ontario Superior Court following an Application written by Warren A. Lyon on behalf of Mr. Gomez and the CAG,  is the latest in a long-running battle over the massively popular festival.

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Caribana is trademarked by the Caribana Arts Group (CAG), successor of the Caribbean Cultural Committee which founded the annual event in 1967 but lost control in 2006.

That’s when the city and province cut funding after organizers failed to produce adequate financial statements. Control was transferred to the Festival Management Committee (FMC) and the event was officially called the Toronto Caribbean Carnival.

The CAG claims the carnival itself is the group’s intellectual property and its chair, Henry Gomez, said they’re prepared to go to court again unless FMC acknowledges CAG’s ownership.

In 2009, the festival attracted 1.2 million people, including 300,000 from outside the country, and helped fill 85 per cent of Toronto’s hotel rooms. That year, it generated $483 million for the provincial economy.

But last year, an expected $600,000 in federal and provincial grants didn’t come through. The festival’s budget decreased from $2.6 million to $1.8 million.

“We have to bring our festival in line with others like Luminato and the Harbourfront Centre because what has happened in the past we were so skewed in how we ran the festival that it hamstrung us in getting grants,” said Denise Herrera-Jackson, the FMC’s chief executive officer.

She said the committee wants to run the event like other successful organizations whose funding is evenly split between sponsors, grants and self-generating profits.

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“We have beautiful events, but they don’t generate enough money, so we have to find other ways to capture revenues.”

The festival’s major sponsor is Scotiabank, with several other corporate partners including GraceKennedy Inc., the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, the Ontario Science Centre, the Royal Ontario Museum, and media partners such as the Toronto Star and CTV.

Among new events planned are Caribbean art shows at the ROM and Gladstone Hotel, a rugby match between the Jamaican and Canadian national teams and a Canadian citizenship ceremony.