Targeted Ad Hoc Support – Major Festivals and Events Support Initiative (MFESI)
The MFESI is a $200 million Canada-wide initiative announced in Budget 2021. It will help businesses and organizations in this sector overcome the impacts of the pandemic and position themselves for the future. It is administered by four regional development agencies (RDAs).
In Quebec, the MFESI is delivered by CED under the terms and conditions of the Quebec Economic Development Program (QEDP). The grants and contributions budget allocated to Quebec is $100 million through March 31, 2023.
Objectives
The MFESI supports major festivals and events that normally have annual revenues of more than $10 million to avert their potential closure and help them deliver activities adapted to pandemic constraints and position themselves for the future.
Priority is given to meeting the immediate cash flow needs of eligible festivals and events, including the costs of adapting to pandemic-related health measures.
This initiative is in addition to a $200 million investment by Canadian Heritage to support smaller festivals and events.
Who can submit a project?
Eligible recipients:
- For-profit or non-profit organizations responsible for organizing major festivals or recurring events in Quebec. The festival or event must have had total annual revenues of more than $10 million in 2017, 2018 or 2019.
Financial assistance
The support provided under this initiative takes the form of contributions.
The maximum amount available for any one project is $10 million.
The initiative has two components
1. Liquidity needs, including adaptation
Eligible projects:
- Projects to stabilize the operations of eligible festivals and events and keep them operational, including costs incurred to adapt to pandemic-related health requirements. All costs must be exclusively associated with MFESI-eligible festivals or events.
- For these projects, the recipient must demonstrate the impact of COVID-19 on its operations and provide all the documentation necessary to calculate its liquidity needs.
2. Enhancement of positioning, products and experiences, including adaptation
Eligible projects:
Investment projects to position the festival or event for the post-pandemic situation. Projects can be to improve facilities or infrastructure, develop new experiences or products for future editions of the festival or event, adapt/enhance their features to attract new market segments, etc.
Other details
Recipients must agree to comply with the health standards in effect at the time of their festival or event. An attestation template has been developed so that clients can certify their commitment to comply with health standards, and additional clauses have been added to the contribution agreement to enable CED to carry out the necessary monitoring.
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