Sled Island projected losses of up to $200,000 after the June 2013 flood, and it still came back the next year. That tells you plenty about Calgary’s music scene.
What Sled Island is
The festival says on its own site that it began in 2007 as an independent music and arts festival. It runs five days each June, with music, comedy and visual arts in venues from small theatres to churches. It says it draws more than 25,000 attendees a year, and its next edition is June 16 to 20, 2027.
What happened when the 2013 flood hit
Calgary flooded in June 2013 and a state of emergency was declared. Sled Island’s July 2013 update says the festival was cancelled, and organizers expressed sympathy for people displaced by the flood.
Then they did the arithmetic in public. The festival estimated it would lose about $500,000 in revenue from passes, tickets and concessions. Roughly 70% of its expenses, such as artist fees, marketing, deposits and travel, weren’t refundable, so projected losses reached up to $200,000. Insurance didn’t cover the full cancellation of programming in more than 38 venues, the organizers wrote.
Refunds went out through the ticketing company starting July 11, with retail purchases returnable the next day. The announcement of the 2014 return holds the most telling detail: nearly 70% of ticket and pass holders either didn’t ask for a refund or put their refund toward a donation page.
The festival also set up a fundraising page and asked the community for donations. It wrote that it intended to be a fixture in Canada’s music and arts scene for years to come, which reads differently when you know the size of the hole it was standing in.
How Calgary’s arts community responded
By showing up. The same announcement names several organizations that stepped in. Theatre Junction GRAND, the Calgary International Film Festival and a number of music venues offered passes and discounts to affected festival-goers. Support came from the Calgary Hotel Association, Calgary Arts Development Authority and Heritage Canada, and the festival confirmed it would return June 18 to 22, 2014.
Our reading is that a festival spread across 38 venues has no single building to protect, which may help explain why the insurance didn’t stretch to cover it.
What the 2013 story says now
Sled Island leans on its audience. When organizers opened their books after the flood, a large share of ticket holders gave the money back to the festival.
If you’ve never been, go once in June. Pick two venues you’ve never entered, and treat the unfamiliar bands on the bill as the point. The 2027 dates are June 16 to 20.
There’s more where this came from. Start with Calgary Jazz Started as a One-Day Party on Prince’s Island, or jump to How Folk Fest Took Over Prince’s Island Park. Or try Calgary Told Through the Things It Kept for a change of pace.
More from the archive: Calgary’s Downtown Lunch Hour Once Came With a Play and A Museum Where the Instruments Still Sing.
Quick answers
Sled Island began in 2007 as an independent music and arts festival in Calgary. It runs five days each June, with music, comedy and visual arts in venues from small theatres to churches. The festival says it draws more than 25,000 attendees a year, and its next edition is June 16 to 20, 2027.
The June 2013 flood forced Sled Island to cancel the festival, including programming in more than 38 venues. The festival estimated it would lose about $500,000 in revenue. Roughly 70% of its expenses were not refundable, so projected losses reached up to $200,000.
Yes. Sled Island returned the next year, in 2014. Nearly 70% of ticket and pass holders either did not ask for a refund or put it toward a donation page. Theatre Junction GRAND and the Calgary International Film Festival offered passes and discounts to people affected by the flood.
