Why isn’t ICA FolkFest free anymore?
As an organization, ICA wants to compensate staff, pay for services provided by local contractors and suppliers and support our 1,100 volunteers fairly. We also want to enhance the safety, security and comfort of the site in order to provide people with the best possible experience. Perhaps most importantly, we believe that artists, who dedicate themselves to honing their art, deserve to be fairly compensated for their performances. At the same time, our costs have climbed over the years for everything from insurance to electricity and garbage removal, staging and transportation. Some things that used to be donated are no longer provided free of charge. Although admission to FolkFest was free or by-donation-only for several years, this is no longer feasible—not if we wish to produce a safe, high-calibre celebration of arts and culture that appeals to a broad audience. Interestingly, it is commonly believed that FolkFest was always free to the public until recent years. This isn’t true:
