Today, MPP Rick Byers met with the Georgian Bay Folk Society (GBFS) to hear how two grants it received from the Government of Ontario and the Ontario Trillium Foundation's (OTF) over the last year and a half have helped support its work. The two grants were a $74,900 Community Building Fund awarded in 2021, and a $108,400 Resilient Communities Fund that was awarded earlier this year. These grants were designed to help non-profit organization rebuild and recover from the impacts of COVID-19.
The GBFS greatly appreciates the funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, and their efforts to help support the Arts in our local communities.
This year's Summerfolk Music & Crafts Festival, GBFS's flagship annual event, would not have been possible without the generous support of several granting organizations, including the OTF. The Community Building Fund, helped GBFS with key operational costs. Planning Summerfolk and the GBFS' other community events are ongoing throughout the year, and the funds helped with keeping all aspects of GBFS in operation.
The Ontario Trillium Foundation's Resilient Communities Fund was used by Summerfolk to update many aspects of the festival for 2022. It involved developing new strategic, organizational planning, new volunteer recruitment and training strategies, as well as festival programming, redesigning and upgrading of the festival site and its infrastructure, and forging partnerships with cultural and community groups in Grey/Bruce.
The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) mission is to build healthy and vibrant communities across Ontario. As an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada's leading granting foundations, last year, OTF invested nearly $209M into 2,042 community projects and partnerships, which included funding for the Government of Ontario's Community Building Fund. Since 2020, OTF has supported Ontario's economic recovery by helping non-profit organizations rebuild and recover from the impacts of COVID-19. Visit otf.ca to learn more.
Photo (L to R) Ian Solecki, (Board Member), Cindy Wheeler, (Board Member), MPP Rick Byers, Bruce Grey Owen Sound and Jaret Koop, (Operations Manager).
Source: media release
