The CEO of the Victoria Symphony is thrilled they might be able to bring the Symphony Splash back to the Inner Harbour next year.
Matthew White was speaking on CFAX after Victoria council approved a $250,000 grant to help resurrect the event.
"I'm super excited that the city decided to get behind this event again," says White. "This is just an incredible sign of confidence in the Symphony and the community's ability to pull this off."
The Symphony Splash hasn't happened since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. White says they were never able to bring it back because of skyrocketing costs.
"The cost of this event, just like the cost of all major events across the province, just went absolutely bananas over the last four or five years," says White." "I think people didn't really understand over the years that the symphony was responsible for paying for Symphony Splash. When the costs went so crazy during the pandemic and after the pandemic we realized we couldn't afford it."
The city's grant will go a long way to bringing it back, but more money is still needed.
"It's going to be roughly $200-thousand dollars more, so we're going to definitely be coming out to the community to ask for more support from corporate partners and individuals," says White.
"There are still a few production challenges we have to work through, but when you know that the core of the funding is there we're feeling pretty confident we're going to be able to solve those problems."
If all goes well, Victoria's might see the event return for 2025 with an expanded two day format.