With the Cenovus Energy Hub now coming out of its first winter season, and with a big concert on the horizon, the City of Lloydminster is looking at creating a concert and special events policy.
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First presented at the April 20 regular council meeting and accepted as information, the policy aims to establish a framework for planning, approving and delivering concerts and events. It ultimately looks to balance public experiences with fiscal responsibility.
“Concerts must meet a financial threshold where 70 per cent of estimated gross revenue meets or exceeds total projected costs,” said Joel Turcotte, the city’s director of recreation and cultural services.
There are options if a concert doesn’t meet that threshold for the city. If a concert incurs a deficit, the city can use the special events reserve to bring it to a breakeven position.
Council also has the power to approve concerts that fall below that threshold where significant economic benefits for the city are expected.
The policy will apply to all facilities in the city.
Coun. Justin Vance asked how the city can be as transparent as possible with the dollars spent during this process and the reserves allocated.
Tracy Simpson, City of Lloydminster executive manager of community development services, explained they’ve been discussing a report to council following the concerts.
“If a concert required a draw from reserves to balance that would require council motion so you’d be an active participant in that,” she said.
Council and administration also discussed the possibility of rental facilities as opposed to bringing concerts to town.
“I think It’s always better being the renter and being able to just rent the facility than always having to output funds to make sure you break event,” said Turcotte.
Coun. Michael Diachuk pointed out if an external promoter were bringing talent to town, they’d likely want more access to the Hub.
“I think if you had an external promoter, they would be chasing down acts and the piece that they’d want is greater access to a greater number of dates to the Hub,” he said.
“I think by doing the events ourselves and booking them ourselves and again working in conjunction with the Juba Theatre, we’re able to identify when those dates are free and work with the partners that we have that are currently renting it.”
The policy will be brought forward to a future council meeting for a decision.
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