The Bella Coola Music Festival is the latest to cancel due to COVID-19. The announcement came this week on the heels of other festivals around the province, including Arts Wells, Robson Valley, and the Vancouver Folk Festival.
“We are heartbroken to announce that due to COVID-19, we’ve made the very difficult decision to cancel the Bella Coola Music Festival scheduled for July 17, 18 and 19, 2020,” said a statement from Artistic/Executive Director Rose Clark. “These are very challenging times, and Canada’s arts and culture sector is taking a huge hit as a result. You may have heard that arts organizations all across the country are being devastated by this crisis – Bella Coola Music Festival is no exception.”
The statement goes on to say that, ‘the Discovery Coast Music Festival Society has a responsibility as an organisation to ensure the health and safety of our community and of our artists. This situation has escalated globally and we can not in good faith assume that there will be no risk of infection by July, even if restrictions are lifted and the danger becomes less than it is now. Our small, family oriented festival will not put at risk the health of our performers, our volunteers, our audience and our families. Avoiding unnecessary travel to our small community, where we have fewer resources, is important to protect ourselves and our loved ones. Although it is difficult to accept, we can not move forward with our regular festival programming.’
There may not be regular programming this year, but Clark did say that the organization is still working on alternative arrangements.
“While there won’t be a regular festival this year, we will do everything we can to celebrate art in the valley when it is safe to do so,” Clark said. “You can expect to hear further announcements as things move forward and become more clear.”
