This story was updated Oct. 6 @ 5:15PM
After 10 years as Nuit Blanche’s naming sponsor, Scotiabank has ended its relationship with the Toronto all-night art festival.
The decision to part ways was made in February, but the bank had remained involved with the festival since then, paying to have its employees help develop a new sponsorship strategy and potential leads.
A Scotiabank spokesperson told the Toronto Star the decision stems from a review of sponsorship priorities, and the event no longer matches the bank’s strategy.
All of Canada’s major financial institutions run large sponsorship programs, making it a competitive business arena. Scotiabank’s largest program focuses on the NHL (aside from league sponsorship and relationships with nearly all NHL teams, Scotiabank has its name on Calgary’s NHL arena).
Scotiabank does have a small, but dedicated team devoted to culture-based event sponsorships such as the Giller Awards and the Contact Photography Festival, for both of which it remains the presenting sponsor. The arts sponsorship team has even produced a bank-branded art installation for Nuit Blanche in the past.
According to a statement from the bank, it spent approximately $25 million on community events in Toronto last year.
That team generally looks at its arts sponsorships as opportunities to host high-profile clients at exclusive events; Nuit Blanche is a free, city-wide event and may no longer deliver the degree of exclusivity the bank desires.
According to Terry Nicholson, director of arts and culture services in the City of Toronto’s Economic Development and Culture unit, this announcement hardly leaves Nuit Blanche in dire straights. He said the festival garners approximately $2 million in grants and sponsorships beyond the city’s funding, and Scotiabank accounts for less than half of that.
“Ten years is a long time,” Nicholson said of the festival’s relationship with Scotiabank. “Most sponsors don’t stay at the table for 10 years. Honestly, we’re nothing but grateful.”
While new lead sponsors are being sought, Nicholson said Nuit Blanche’s organizers are currently debating whether the festival requires a single naming sponsor at all. Because the event focuses its exhibits in various zones across Toronto that move from year to year, there are multiple naming opportunities now instead of just one. Redpath, for example, became a sponsor this year because the festival hosted events near its waterfront facility.
The event’s other major sponsors currently include H&M, Renova and Canon Canada.
