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Council Votes To Ban EDM Events From Occurring At Toronto’s Exhibition Place

April 11, 2014 By Zakiya

With Toronto being renowned across the country for its established, and prolific nightlife scene, many dance music fans were shocked this morning when the Board of the Exhibition Place voted against allowing electronic dance music events to be held at the city-owned venue. Toronto’s Exhibition Place has been a functional spot for large-scale indoor electronic music events for the past 12 years, and is even supposed to host Dada Life’s “Dada Land Compound” event later this month.

Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti was at the forefront of this motion, which resulted in a 4-3 vote in favour of the ban, claiming that electronic music events are dangerous for kids, and contending that these types of events foster an environment full of underaged drinking and drug use:

“[We’re] talking 5600 kids, many of them taking ecstasy on government lands owned by the taxpayers, I just think it’s wrong to be sending that message,” he said. “I don’t see the logic in that, if the private industry wants to have the venues in a private location then so be it.”

There is also record of pressure from Zlatko Starkovski, the president of the privately owned club, Muzik (which is located on the Exhibition Place grounds), to ban dance music events from occurring at the city-owned venue, claiming that there is too much competition in the one area, thus hindering his business. Just last year, Muzik renewed their lease for another 10 years, after much discussion and debate amongst the city’s board of government. In the archived report, Starkovski also states that people may associate the negative connotations regarding raves, and rave culture, with his own club if other events are taking place within close proximity.

This ban may have certain repercussions on the city of Toronto, with electronic music events at the Exhibition Place bringing in approximately $1 million dollars annually. Not all city councillors agree with this decision, and have voiced their concerns over Twitter today: