2 days ago
SaskTel ends Jazz Festival title sponsorship after nearly 30 years
The Saskatchewan Jazz Festival is searching for a new title sponsor for the first time in almost 30 years after SaskTel decided not to return as the main corporate patron of the annual summer event in Saskatoon.
"It's the end of an era for us," said Shannon Josdal, executive director of the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival.
The festival is planning to return next summer, but it won't look the same.
"It's extremely likely that there will be changes to the festival format next year in response to this change and many other factors," Josdal said. "But they will be strategic and they will be responsive and they'll be for the best."
In addition to naming the festival itself after the Crown corporation, the title sponsorship gave SaskTel prominent branding placement at the multi-day festival and in promotional material throughout the year. The Jazz Festival has known SaskTel's intention to leave since at least the beginning of the year.
The Saskatoon Jazz Society founded the festival in 1987 and SaskTel joined as the title sponsor in 1998.
Josdal declined to discuss the agreement's details, but said SaskTel's annual sponsorship reached six-figures, but was below $200,000.
"Having that title sponsorship and knowing that cash infusion is there is kind of a bedrock for an organization like ours," she said, adding that the sponsorship helped pay for year-round staff.
"So it puts us into a bit of a precarious situation and seeking additional major sponsors is something that's high on our priority list."
In a statement e-mailed to CBC News, SaskTel said it's still considering other sponsorship opportunities with the festival.
"By evolving our sponsorship with the Jazz Festival, SaskTel is better positioned to develop sponsorship agreements with other organizations and consider supporting new events and causes across Saskatchewan," it said in the statement.
"This change is in no way a reflection of the quality or impact of the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival, which we continue to respect and admire."
SaskTel spent $3.1 million on sponsorships and donations for 1,048 non-profits and charities in the province in the last fiscal year, according to the Crown corporation's 2024-25 annual report.
Festivals struggle
The Jazz Festival's circumstances aren't unique. Live music events across the country are dealing with fallout from COVID shutdowns, declining ticket sales and rising costs of staging events and booking big-name acts, said Em Ironstar, executive director of the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance.
In March, the Regina Folk Festival permanently shut down after a 55-year run due to financial struggles.
"I don't think we can kind of discount that economic impact that these arts and culture events have in our communities," Ironstar said.
"It's not just the people working at the Jazz Festival and the Folk Festival. It's also everybody that's coming into town to enjoy those things. So when we lost the Folk Festival in Regina ... we didn't have those restaurants filling up and people in hotel beds."
The Jazz Festival typically generates $8 million in economic spin-offs, Josdal said.
The festival moved to Victoria Park in 2023 after more than two decades at Bessborough Gardens.
The financial hit to the non-profit festival isn't just in the annual sponsorship dollars. The SaskTel name is on promotional material, stage wraps and other branded items that must be replaced.
In January, the City of Saskatoon awarded the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival a $72,574 cultural grant to undergo rebranding when the SaskTel sponsorship ends. The grant covers 42 per cent of the cost to rebrand, according to a city administration report.
