I witnessed, first hand, Esteemedia's role in these events, and support Karen Andraza's comments 100%
C
Chris Meyer
11 years ago
100% should be held accountable for the $$. He has deceived too many.
L
Lindsay Stewart
11 years ago
I would add that there should be some form of audit of both Mr. Higgins organization and that of the City of Kitchener's expenses regarding this event. It is my understanding that the city spent a considerable sum of money, well into the 6 figures, to deal with site remediation as a result of methane off-gassing. According to comments in the Record article, the park has been left littered with cedar chips. Those within city hall who were responsible for the direction, support, financing and promotion of this fiasco should be held to account. In a summer during which the province saw an unprecedented number of superb, challenging and innovative music festivals, Big Music Fest is a black eye for the city. Whether they be on council or employees of the Events Department, the city is in part responsible for the mismanagement and potential malfeasance of the promoter with whom they partnered.
T
Taylor
11 years ago
He owes the taxpayers and he owes Esteemedia (who essentially ran the whole event).
K
Karen Andraza
11 years ago
I am the director for the Waterloo Zombie Walk and a co-organizer of the 'Breaking Zombies' event that was held in the week lead up to Big Music Fest. I reached out to Dan and Chris initially to offer a hand with this event as we are not strangers to running an event of this type, not to support Big Music Fest but to support Esteemedia.
What Mark is saying about him organizing this event is entirely untrue, myself and my committee sourced all the vendors, sourced makeup artists and ran the makeup table, gave away our t-shirts for free, brought in a flash mob and a 'learn the Thriller' lesson for the kids, organized the schedule, sourced all the costume prizes and met with the city numerous times in order to make this happen and ensure we had the insurance etc. to cover the event. I also arranged for the food truck that day.
My committee set up the event the day of and coordinated all the vendor load in and set up. We also utilized our own sound equipment when the company running the sound did not show up on time. We all took time off work and many hours leading up to the event were spent for planning. I created the event on Facebook and pushed awareness of it out through The Waterloo Zombie Walk page.
I worked closely with Dan and Chris on this event as they are also sponsors for the Waterloo Zombie Walk in 2015 . The Walk has always supported local businesses and none of my sponsors are otherwise. They are professional and committed to their craft and do not deserve to have Mark say the awful things he is saying about them. They also deserve to be paid.
I have never met Mark nor do I have the desire to do so. I am not even sure he realizes that I co-organized the event.
A
A
11 years ago
No, I am not for taxpayer money supporting an event. If the concertgoers can't fund the event themselves, the concert shouldn't be put on. Also, my family lives close enough that we can hear the event even though we didn't buy tickets. Put the event in a country setting please.
Y
Yves Marchand
11 years ago
Featured
The last minute cancellation of Sunday's events alone should merit repayment of the grant. Not paying suppliers and contractors should resut in an automatic forfeiture of public money.
J
Joe Cormier
· petition starter
11 years ago
Now he doesn't want to pay his bills. http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5835027-more-controversy-for-kitchener-s-big-music-fest/
C
Crystal Grandmond
11 years ago
Eager to set something up and take money, but not eager to book great bands or put on a proper show!!! IT NOT ABOUT YOU MARK HIGGINS, its about making the ticket buyers happy! I will not sink anymore money into this scam!
R
Rod Demerling
11 years ago
Featured
I've spent enough time working for not-for-profit arts organizations that I know how rigorous the conditions are for receiving grants of public money. I can't believe his application would have specified 'Saturday only' expenses. I'm sure this antic will be reflected in whatever grant monies he receives next year.
K
Karl Morant
11 years ago
Mark Higgins did not meet the conditions of the grant, therefor he should return some of the grant.
J
Joe Cormier
· petition starter
11 years ago
And for the record, even though this online petition system thinks I am in Toronto, I am a born and raised lifelong resident of Kitchener (in case anyone was wondering).
J
Joe Cormier
· petition starter
11 years ago
Btw everyone, the Stratford Festival, which runs from April-October, received $300,000 from Celebrate Ontario in 2014.. Mr Higgins received $272,500 in 2014 and according to reports $270,000 this year and is a three day festival (ok....lets give him six days this year as he says). One of the days was cancelled yet Mr, Higgins still feels he is entitled to the entire amount?
M
Morgan Bennett
11 years ago
The festival went from 7 days to 6 days. I had a lot of fun with my kids at the inflatables and enjoyed Soundgarden on Saturday night. What is the big deal here?
J
Joe Cormier
· petition starter
11 years ago
Here's the latest from Higgins.....are we buying it?
http://www.570news.com/2015/07/22/president-of-big-music-fest-speaks-out-after-complaints-about-festival/
A
Anonymous
11 years ago
While I support money coming into the area, not with this promoter.
O
ONMusicFan
11 years ago
If you guys are looking for an affordable music festival that actually listens and treats their fans with respect, you need to check out WTFest in Brantford!
http://www.facebook.com/wtfestca
or http://www.wtfest.ca
A bunch of us went this year and had an amazing time. Tickets were more than fair and gave me more money to spend on their $5 beers!
Z
Z
11 years ago
I went to music fest 2014 and it was excellent, being able to see Areosmith/Slash was super cool. However musicfest 2015 was super disappointing... I looked at what bands were playing and they were nowhere as good as 2014. Bring good musicians to 2016 and I might go.. As for this year, sorry you people bought tickets....
C
Christal Rmik
11 years ago
There was so much wrong with this event that I will never attend another one put on by this company!!! I want a full refund not just for the Sunday as I bought weekend tickets for a reason...
No grant money!!
I witnessed, first hand, Esteemedia's role in these events, and support Karen Andraza's comments 100%
100% should be held accountable for the $$. He has deceived too many.
I would add that there should be some form of audit of both Mr. Higgins organization and that of the City of Kitchener's expenses regarding this event. It is my understanding that the city spent a considerable sum of money, well into the 6 figures, to deal with site remediation as a result of methane off-gassing. According to comments in the Record article, the park has been left littered with cedar chips. Those within city hall who were responsible for the direction, support, financing and promotion of this fiasco should be held to account. In a summer during which the province saw an unprecedented number of superb, challenging and innovative music festivals, Big Music Fest is a black eye for the city. Whether they be on council or employees of the Events Department, the city is in part responsible for the mismanagement and potential malfeasance of the promoter with whom they partnered.
He owes the taxpayers and he owes Esteemedia (who essentially ran the whole event).
I am the director for the Waterloo Zombie Walk and a co-organizer of the 'Breaking Zombies' event that was held in the week lead up to Big Music Fest. I reached out to Dan and Chris initially to offer a hand with this event as we are not strangers to running an event of this type, not to support Big Music Fest but to support Esteemedia. What Mark is saying about him organizing this event is entirely untrue, myself and my committee sourced all the vendors, sourced makeup artists and ran the makeup table, gave away our t-shirts for free, brought in a flash mob and a 'learn the Thriller' lesson for the kids, organized the schedule, sourced all the costume prizes and met with the city numerous times in order to make this happen and ensure we had the insurance etc. to cover the event. I also arranged for the food truck that day. My committee set up the event the day of and coordinated all the vendor load in and set up. We also utilized our own sound equipment when the company running the sound did not show up on time. We all took time off work and many hours leading up to the event were spent for planning. I created the event on Facebook and pushed awareness of it out through The Waterloo Zombie Walk page. I worked closely with Dan and Chris on this event as they are also sponsors for the Waterloo Zombie Walk in 2015 . The Walk has always supported local businesses and none of my sponsors are otherwise. They are professional and committed to their craft and do not deserve to have Mark say the awful things he is saying about them. They also deserve to be paid. I have never met Mark nor do I have the desire to do so. I am not even sure he realizes that I co-organized the event.
No, I am not for taxpayer money supporting an event. If the concertgoers can't fund the event themselves, the concert shouldn't be put on. Also, my family lives close enough that we can hear the event even though we didn't buy tickets. Put the event in a country setting please.
The last minute cancellation of Sunday's events alone should merit repayment of the grant. Not paying suppliers and contractors should resut in an automatic forfeiture of public money.
Now he doesn't want to pay his bills. http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5835027-more-controversy-for-kitchener-s-big-music-fest/
Eager to set something up and take money, but not eager to book great bands or put on a proper show!!! IT NOT ABOUT YOU MARK HIGGINS, its about making the ticket buyers happy! I will not sink anymore money into this scam!
I've spent enough time working for not-for-profit arts organizations that I know how rigorous the conditions are for receiving grants of public money. I can't believe his application would have specified 'Saturday only' expenses. I'm sure this antic will be reflected in whatever grant monies he receives next year.
Mark Higgins did not meet the conditions of the grant, therefor he should return some of the grant.
And for the record, even though this online petition system thinks I am in Toronto, I am a born and raised lifelong resident of Kitchener (in case anyone was wondering).
Btw everyone, the Stratford Festival, which runs from April-October, received $300,000 from Celebrate Ontario in 2014.. Mr Higgins received $272,500 in 2014 and according to reports $270,000 this year and is a three day festival (ok....lets give him six days this year as he says). One of the days was cancelled yet Mr, Higgins still feels he is entitled to the entire amount?
The festival went from 7 days to 6 days. I had a lot of fun with my kids at the inflatables and enjoyed Soundgarden on Saturday night. What is the big deal here?
Here's the latest from Higgins.....are we buying it? http://www.570news.com/2015/07/22/president-of-big-music-fest-speaks-out-after-complaints-about-festival/
While I support money coming into the area, not with this promoter.
If you guys are looking for an affordable music festival that actually listens and treats their fans with respect, you need to check out WTFest in Brantford! http://www.facebook.com/wtfestca or http://www.wtfest.ca A bunch of us went this year and had an amazing time. Tickets were more than fair and gave me more money to spend on their $5 beers!
I went to music fest 2014 and it was excellent, being able to see Areosmith/Slash was super cool. However musicfest 2015 was super disappointing... I looked at what bands were playing and they were nowhere as good as 2014. Bring good musicians to 2016 and I might go.. As for this year, sorry you people bought tickets....
There was so much wrong with this event that I will never attend another one put on by this company!!! I want a full refund not just for the Sunday as I bought weekend tickets for a reason...