The City of Montreal is pulling all funding from ArtsGames, the ambitious, made-in-Montreal international competition set for this fall, after investing $3.7 million in the inaugural event.
It's yet another event vaunted by former mayor Denis Coderre that has failed to win the support of the new administration of Valérie Plante. Last December, Plante cancelled the controversial Formula E electric car race.
Radio-Canada has learned the city's executive committee made the ArtsGames decision in a closed-door meeting earlier this week, although it seems that Coderre, too, had already soured on the event by the time he left office.
The idea is to create an Olympics-style international competition in several arts disciplines, including media arts, literature, visual arts, dance and music.
'A great day for Montreal'
Coderre held a news conference in September 2015 to announce the city would invest $6 million in services and $500,000 cash in the inaugural event.
He called it "a great day for Montreal."
The $6 million included $1.15 million for Tourism Montreal to hold an ArtsGames launch event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Montreal musicians, including Oliver Jones, Daniel Clarke Bouchard and Florence K, performed at the event.
However, by the autumn of 2016, the Coderre administration appeared to have lost interest in the event, quietly pulling funding.
The first ArtsGames were supposed to take place just before the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, but after the city's decision to stop financing the games, they were delayed until this fall.
This week, the Plante administration formally decided the city would no longer collaborate with ArtsGames organizers.
The city has already invested $3.7 million of the $6.5 million initially pledged.
No one from the city was available to comment, although a spokesperson said more information on the decision would be available later Thursday.
No one from the ArtsGames would do an interview.
In an email, the organization acknowledged it was no longer working with the city but said it would continue to work with other partners to try and make the event happen as scheduled this fall.