Kempenfest - Festival Audit

Project Description:

Kempenfest is one of them largest outdoor festivals in Ontario, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors.  It’s award-winning content includes a signature concert series on two stages, hundreds of arts vendors, a massive antiques and collectibles market, food and drink, kids play zones, and a waterfront venue in Barrie that’s unbeatable.

In 2017, the festival’s 50th anniversary was within reach and the organizing partners wanted an independent set of eyes to review their operations. The park they called home had recently undergone a major infrastructure enhancement and the E.D. who had led the organization for many years was retiring. It was time to contemplate change.

Kempenfest is a truly unique festival, not only for its incredible scale, location and content, but for its origin story and the collective sense of ownership from its organizing partners – a collection of about 10 service clubs. Each partner was responsible for a segment of programming, many which had changed in scale and complexity over the decades. This moment was a chance to review those relationships, understand how to re-imagine the festival to create stronger bonds, greater financial equity and impact for all involved.

Over the course of 8 months, Cobalt Connects interviewed past and present partners, reviewed financial reports, festival data, and site plans. For the 2018 season, a team of reviewers were sent to watch the festival in action – everyday, from dawn till dusk – to better understand how it functioned, and where the opportunities were for growth and improvement. We also conducted an interactive survey onsite through the festival employing local artists to create a mural that also gathered data from hundreds of festival goers.

In our final report, we covered recommendations on everything from governance structure to financial management, signage to parking, revenue generation to site layout, programming opportunities to sponsorship standards.  We participated in the interview process to select the new E.D., and patiently await the festival’s return in 2021 to celebrate their postponed 50th anniversary.

Client: Kempenfest Organizing Committee

Collaborators: Kempenfest Partners, local artists, team of festival reviewers

Website: https://kempenfest.com/

City: Barrie, ON

Date: 2018