Toronto Pride celebrations continue despite financial woes
While not all queer organizations are facing the same financial woes as Pride Toronto, some community members say they understand why Pride events have become unaffordable.
A Toronto-born drag king says he has performed in Pride festivals worldwide, but there is one thing that keeps bringing him back to the city.
“There’s so many different people that come from all over the world to Toronto Pride because it feels like everyone is welcome,” said the artist who performs under the name Krēme Inakuchi.
But a major shift in corporate support now looms over the future of the largest Pride festival in North America.
Pride Toronto said Wednesday it’s facing a $900,000 funding gap due to sponsors pulling out and the rising costs of running the festival. Executive director Kojo Modeste linked the corporate withdrawals to backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States under President Donald Trump’s administration.
Though this year’s Pride won’t look much different than usual, Modeste said next year’s festival is likely to be scaled down as a result of the shortfall – a move that will threaten its reputation and status.
Google, Nissan, Home Depot and Clorox are among the companies that decided not to contribute funds this year.
Google said its employees will still be marching in this year’s Pride parade on June 29, while Nissan Canada and Clorox said they still support diversity and inclusivity initiatives. The Home Depot Canada said it “continually reviews” its non-profit giving and decided not to contribute to this year’s event.
“These companies that are pulling out, it just shows that they were never really with us to begin with,” the drag king said.
For him, a smaller festival isn’t something to be afraid of, but rather an incentive to increase solidarity within the LGBTQ+ community.
“We’ve been actually calling for Pride Toronto to divest from certain companies that are not supporting queer people all over the world, including people in Palestine,” he said.
While not all queer organizations are facing the same financial woes as Pride Toronto, some community members say they understand why Pride events have become unaffordable.
“I think the organization has grown and grown, and then the budget gets bigger and bigger and you realize that it’s getting to the point where it’s just not going to be functional anymore and I think we might be there,” said George Pratt, chairperson of the Church Wellesley Village BIA.
While Pride Toronto hosts some of the city’s largest Pride events, it isn’t the only group behind the celebrations. The Church Wellesley Village – commonly known as The Village – is a vibrant neighbourhood in downtown Toronto historically known for its ties to the city’s LGBTQ+ community. This year, it’s hosting Pride celebrations the weekend before Pride Toronto’s main events, known as Village Fest.
“I can’t say we’re going to see an immediate impact this year because for Pride for years people have flocked to Church Street before and after the parade and it generally is a wonderful time for everybody,” said Pratt, although he acknowledged rising costs for smaller Pride events as well, especially when it comes to security.
But other LGBTQ+ community organizers say Pride Toronto’s loss of corporate funding still cuts into the spirit of public celebrations.
“Seeing the erosion of funding for queer culture is also an erosion of the confidence of every individual queer kid who’s looking to figure out if this is a place that they can feel safe and cared for,” said ted witzel, artistic director for Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, a queer theatre based in Toronto that’s also running Pride events this year.
The theatre itself still has “deep support” from corporate and government partnerships that are fundamental to queer organizations, witzel said.
“The origins of queer performance are truly grassroots, but with investment from our communities, from donors, the government and corporate partners, we’ve been able to scale the work that happens in queer arts organizations,” witzel said.
“We’ve come from the grassroots and we know how to go back to the grassroots. I will not go anywhere and we will not go anywhere.”
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