Festivals are part of what makes Toronto an amazing place to live and work and a destination of choice for tourists from around the world. Toronto’s festivals are critical to the city’s vitality, prosperity and liveability, and provide immense economic impact benefits to local businesses.
The Special Events Stabilization Initiative (SESI) is a one-time funding program that provides financial relief to local special event organizers who have been hard hit by rising costs, especially those related to health, safety and security of the general public and event attendees. These costs include public safety measures such as security, crowd management, insurance and health and safety efforts.
Funding available per applicant is based on the budget of festival, with grants covering up to 50 per cent of total spend on eligible expenses:
Organizations applying to SESI must satisfy all three sets of criteria below to be awarded funding.
To apply to SESI, organizations must meet the following criteria:
In order to be eligible, the events or activities must:
Eligible expenses include operational expenses (fees and costs) dedicated to festivals and event execution, including but not limited to:
In addition, all eligible expenses must be incurred from January 1 to December 31, 2024.
Recipients of CFFP are eligible to apply to SESI. Please note, organizations applying to both programs are required to show a clear difference in expenses. For SESI, applicants need to illustrate how festival and event security costs have substantially risen, over a 2019 baseline, showing clear differentiation between programming expenses and health, safety and security costs.
Ineligible expenses include, but are not limited to:
Register to learn more about the application process at one of the following virtual information sessions:
Each information sessions consists of a presentation reviewing the program, eligibility criteria, application form and frequently asked questions, and is followed by an open question period.
There are two application intake periods in 2024:
Organizations that meet all three sets of eligibility criteria can apply below. To develop a strong application, also review the detailed assessment criteria.
Applicants must apply online by the deadline of September 30 at 5 p.m.
If desired, download the application questions as a reference prior to completing the online form.
For questions, please email sesi@toronto.ca or call 416-395-0490.
Applications are reviewed and scored by a review panel comprising cultural sector representatives and City staff. Eligible applications are assessed against the General Assessment Criteria outlined below. Funding recommendations are made by the review panel until all available funds have been allocated.
Please note that all decisions concerning eligibility and funding amounts are final and there is no appeal process.
Applications are assessed against four program priorities:
When submitting the application, please be as thorough and concise as possible on how the festival meets the following criteria.
Strong applications demonstrate high capacity, excellent organization, financial stability and financial sustainability. These elements are prioritized in scoring to ensure responsible and accountable management of resources, and demonstrate reliable and effective event delivery:
Strong applications demonstrate a clear understanding and required planning for all health, safety and security elements associated with executing publicly accessible festivals. There is evidence of investment and attention to best practices in the health and safety planning. These elements are prioritized as the purpose of the fund is to assist in offsetting rising health, safety and security costs as the festival and events landscape has shifted over time:
Strong applications demonstrate a meaningful and significant commitment to including cultural programming in their festival or event. This can be through the mandate and objectives of the organization and festival or event, and in the programming and artists engaged. This is prioritized as part of highlighting Toronto’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, and in investing in cultural programming that is unique to the city:
Strong applications demonstrate significant and meaningful community engagement including a volunteer program, diverse local vendors and community partners. This could also include legacy commitments to the local community where the festival or event is hosted. This is prioritized to showcase driving business to local main streets and communities, and in order to promote investment in the local economy. It also encourages additional neighbourhood vibrancy and enables engagement of volunteers and local visitors:
“Accessibility” is defined as the practice of making information, activities, and/or environments sensible, meaningful and usable for as many people as possible. An accessibility policy helps organizations set goals to make themselves more accessible by identifying barriers that prevent people with disabilities from accessing the organization’s goods, services, or facilities and to determine how those barriers can be prevented or removed.
“Black-led organizations” are broadly defined as organizations with a mandate to serve and support Black communities, have executive and senior management who identify as Black, and/or are primarily staffed by Black community members.
“Community partner” is defined as a group or organization that has positive and meaningful ties to the community in which the festival serves. Affiliation with these partners enriches the festival’s cultural mission and provides opportunities for the community to participate in the festival. A community partner can be for- or not-for-profit, a local business, a community, programming and/or cultural organization.
“Cultural programming” includes performing arts, visual arts, literary arts, interdisciplinary arts, craft, design and expressions of cultural identity.
“Emergency plan” refers to the organization’s capacity to plan and respond to emergency situations that may occur during their event. Components to the plan include public safety, identifying hazards, mitigating and managing risks, security personnel, roles and responsibility, training, contingency plans, inclusion of the City’s emergency services into the plan, communications plan, etc.
“Equity deserving groups” include women, racialized groups, people with disabilities, immigrants and refugees, undocumented individuals, 2SLGBTQ+ people, people of low income and other groups the City identifies as historically underrepresented.
“Financial controls” refer to how the organization manages its finances. This can be explained through policies and procedures in the pre-planning stage and the approach to spending and cash-handling (as applicable) during the festival.
“Indigenous-led organizations” are broadly defined as organizations with a mandate to serve Indigenous communities, operate under Indigenous governance models, have executive and senior management who identify as Indigenous, are primarily staffed by Indigenous community members and/or follow an Indigenous service model.
The “public realm” is defined as the publicly owned places and spaces that belong to and are accessible by everyone. These can include municipal streets, lanes, squares, plazas, sidewalks, trails, parks, and open spaces.