Toronto’s sizeable dance music community has been in an uproar ever since a recent vote by councillors in April resulted in the banning of Electronic Dance Music events from occurring on the city-owned premises of the Exhibition Place, it having served as a functional, and accommodating indoor concert venue for the past 12 years. Spearheaded by Giorgio Mammoliti, councillors claimed that the decision was made as a means of protecting kids from these types of events, which they deemed to be a fostering environment for underaged drinking and drug use. Furthermore, there has reportedly been some pressure from Zlatko Starkovski, the owner of Muzik Nightclub, to debar EDM events from the venue, avowing that they have a negative impact on his business. In addition to the city’s loss of $1 million dollars annually, repercussions of this ban have already been felt by dance music fans, with Dada Life’s highly-anticipated “Dada Land Compound” event having been cancelled last month.
Not surprisingly, the electronic music community has been vocalizing their concerns and objections to this decision through social media, and have even created a fairly successful petition against the ban (which can be signed here). Fortunately, not all of the councillors involved were on board with this decision, and many will be elated to know that they plan to call the motion into review, contending that it was made “hastily and in bad faith”. Councillor Mike Layton, who is at the forefront of the motion to lift the ban has stated:
“I think people realize it was made in haste…I think that motivation was entirely a financial one … It was clear that that was the motivation from the get-go and it wasn’t this altruistic (thing) that we’re protecting children somehow. That was only brought up after the fact.”
The group of opposing members plan to go before the council tomorrow, May 7th, and ideally, the ban could be reversed by next week. Be sure to check back here for updates.
via TheTorontoStar
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