Another Toronto street festival is being lost to funding shortfalls

After seven years of operation, the founder of the Yorkville Murals festival says organizers are planning their last event. 

“We have received great support from the city in the previous years,” said Alan Ganev, who started the festival in 2019 just outside of his Yorkville gallery. This year, he said they didn’t receive any city grants. 

“We don’t know how to move forward."

Ganev says the free festival, that turns Yorkville Avenue into an outdoor gallery, attracted more than 70,000 attendees last year.

While the festival has secured about 60 per cent of its annual funding from private investors in years past, Ganev said, it can't run without grants. He said he doesn't understand why they were denied after their most successful year to date.

“The discussions about how they decide to give funding are really not shared with the public,” he says. “If Yorkville Murals is not able to sustain this, who can?”

WATCH | Yorkville Murals, 2023 edition:

More applications, more competition, city says

The city has two primary grants for festival organizers: The Cultural Festivals Funding Program, and the Special Event Stabilization Initiative.

Ganev says Yorkville murals received grants from both funds last year.

In a statement emailed to CBC Toronto, spokesperson Kayla Lewis said, "both grants are competitive programs and received a high volume of applications in 2026, reflecting the strength and diversity of Toronto’s festivals and events sector. Due to demand, funding was not available to all applicants, including Yorkville Murals.”

Another longtime event, The Toronto Waterfront festival, also cancelled their programming after failing to receive support from city grants. In an announcement posted on Facebook, organizers said it was the first time they hadn't received city support since the festival began.

The city has increased festival funding by over two million dollars in the last four years, supporting 137 festivals in 2026, up from 36 in 2022.

Grants are reviewed through a peer-assessment process, and are subject to program considerations like geographic distribution and equity initiatives.

Grants moving out of downtown, councillor says

Coun. Dianne Saxe, who represents University-Rosedale where the festival is located, says how and where grant funds are distributed has been a recent topic of discussion in council.

"[There] has been a demand from the suburban councillors that more money for festivals go into their wards and not so much downtown,” she said. "As a downtown councilor, I think that underestimates the value of downtown festivals to the city."

Saxe says between the transit accessibility of Yorkville Murals, and the economic and cultural boost it gives the community, the festival "deserves more respect."

She also points to the recent success of Taste of the Danforth, which after an injection of funding from the province, was able to return after a two-year hiatus stemming from financial struggles.

WATCH | Taste of the Danforth returns after 2-year hiatus:

"There is a reckoning that has to be made with the fact that policing and providing security at free festivals is more expensive than before, and the number of people who want to attend these festivals is larger than ever before," she said.

"But the city can't pick up all the pieces."

Ganev says Yorkville Murals was a recipient of the Experience Ontario grant, a provincial fund supporting street festivals, but without the support of the city, they won't be able to go on.

He says that in order to reopen the conversation about future years, the festival would need to find a strategy with the city or province to secure more funding.

"We're open to that conversation, so hopefully there's light at the end of the tunnel," said Ganev.

The last Yorkville murals event will take place this Saturday and Sunday.