De Beers returns $25,000 to ice carving competition
Company back on board as title sponsor of Long John Jamboree event
Jessica Davey-Quantick
Northern News Services
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
De Beers is hauling on its long johns again. After a hiatus last year, De Beers Canada is back as the title sponsor of the 2017 De Beers Inspired Ice-NWT Carving Championship.
De Beers Canada announced this week it is restoring funding to the Long John Jamboree's ice carving competition after opting out last year. - NNSL file photo |
The event, part of the Long John Jamboree, takes place this year March 24 to 26 and will include 10 teams from Canada and the USA. De Beers has contributed to the event since 2012 but stepped back last year. This year, it is contributing a $25,000 sponsorship.
"We take a lot of pride in that, and happy to be back! It was very difficult not to be here last year the way we wanted to be but the nature of the way everything went last year, we had to make our priorities so the company was in the right position to be sustainable for the long term," said Tom Ormsby, head of external and corporate affairs with De Beers Canada.
He cited "transformations" at the company, including the closure of Snap Lake and the final construction push for Gahcho Kue, that put its donations on ice.
The carving competition wasn't the only event that De Beers pulled funding from. Last year, Yellowknifer reported that De Beers cut funding to the NorthWords writers festival, among other NWT programs and events that benefited from the nearly $240,000 in arts, culture and heritage funding De Beers provided in 2014.
Lynn O'Rourke, executive director of the NorthWords festival, said De Beers has not come back on board to fund them.
"We just assumed because they've canceled all or most of their community funding that there isn't any," said O'Rourke.
"We wouldn't approach them unless we knew that they were open up again, that they'd started to open up and started to fund other activities and events again. But I assumed, I think we all assumed, that they were finished doing that. It would be good to know if they are!"
Then again, they haven't asked.
"We're not going through like a list of previous ones. What we're doing is we're evaluating the requests that keep coming in," said Ormsby, adding the Long John Jamboree approached De Beers again to see if funding would be available.
"It's all about what are the requests coming in, what are our abilities to participate, and if we have limited abilities how do we make the best impact with the resources that we have."
Last year, without De Beers' support, the ice carving ran as a demonstration, rather than a competition.
"We didn't want to kill it off last year because we knew there would still be interest in it and hopefully we could talk to De Beers or find another sponsor for it," said Michelle Demeule, executive director of the Long John Jamboree.
"Thankfully De Beers has come back on board and we're hoping that we'll have many, many more years of fruitful partnership."
This year welcomes back 2012 winner Stephan Koch of Indiana, as well as three teams representing the NWT.
Demeule said Yellowknife's competition draws international attention, from as far away as Mongolia, Malaysia and France because the ice used is harvested straight from Great Slave Lake.
"There are only two competitions in the world that are harvesting natural lake ice like we are, and we've been told multiple times that we're harvesting the clearest, bluest ice that they've ever seen," she said. "We're hoping that we can grow the competition internationally in the next few years."
This year, the $25,000 from De Beers will go toward the cost of the festival, as well as prizes, travel and honorariums for participants. Top prize this year is $2,500, with $1,250 for second place and $750 for third.
To grow the competition, however, the money will have to grow as well - Demeule estimates that for the current size, of about 10 to 12 teams, it costs the Jamboree between $70,000 and $75,000 a year.
The rest of the money comes out of the jamboree's pockets," she said, raised from government and city grants, as well as fundraisers and merchandise sales.
For now, however, deputy mayor and festival founder Adrian Bell says it's good to have the competition back, full stop.
"It's some good news for Yellowknife," said Bell.
