The Montreal firm that operates the Only for Laughs comedy competition has cancelled this yr’s version because it seeks to keep away from chapter.
Groupe Juste pour rire Inc. mentioned in a information launch Tuesday that it’s searching for safety from its collectors because it begins formal restructuring beneath Canada’s Chapter and Insolvency Act.
The corporate mentioned it plans to proceed operations “in a scaled-down format” because it restructures and that it hopes the competition will return in 2025.
“The choice to provoke restructuring proceedings was reached after thorough consideration of all choices accessible to the corporate, considering its very tough monetary state of affairs given the numerous adjustments in our enterprise panorama in recent times,” the corporate mentioned.
Julien Provencher-Proulx, a spokesman for Groupe Juste pour rire, confirmed that 75 staff, round 70 per cent of its staff, have been laid off Tuesday.
Tickets for the French and English comedy festivals in Montreal this summer time remained on sale on the corporate’s web site Tuesday.
Along with these festivals, a variety of different performances in Quebec have additionally been cancelled.
Provencher-Proulx wrote in an e-mail that individuals who have bought tickets can return them to the field workplace the place they have been bought or contact their bank card firm in the event that they bought tickets instantly from the competition.
The Toronto Only for Laughs competition, set to happen in September, is run by a separate group and has not been cancelled, Provencher-Proulx mentioned.
Juste pour rire, which held its first competition in Montreal in 1983, blamed its monetary woes on a variety of elements, together with the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation and the altering leisure business. It mentioned COVID compelled it “to successfully stop operations for 2 years.”
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The corporate, whose officers declined interview requests, mentioned it’s on the lookout for new buyers, or consumers for components of its enterprise, and that it hopes to protect operations “as a lot as potential.”
It had laid off one other 21 staff in December, in response to a discover filed with Quebec’s Labour Division.
The corporate is 51 per cent owned by Bell and Montreal occasion promoter Evenko, whereas Los Angeles-based expertise company Artistic Artists Company owns 49 per cent. The competition has introduced lots of the largest names in standup comedy, together with Kevin Hart, Dave Chappelle, Amy Schumer and Jerry Seinfeld.
Along with ticketed indoor reveals, the French and English festivals featured free outside performances.
Martin Roy, the CEO of Quebec competition affiliation the Regroupement des événements majeurs internationaux, mentioned that whereas he’s saddened by the information, he’s not shocked.
“We’ve been saying for months, even years, that issues will not be going properly within the competition sector, specifically for the festivals which might be introduced freed from cost, amongst others, in downtown Montreal,” he mentioned in an interview.
Inflation has pushed the value of internet hosting a competition up by 35 to 40 per cent since 2019, he mentioned.
Response to the information began pouring in on X, previously Twitter, with many saddened by the cancellation of the favored competition.
“Unfathomable” and a “huge loss” have been some simply among the reactions, with one commentator mentioning the potential financial fallout for town from misplaced tourism {dollars}.
— With recordsdata from International Information’ Annabelle Olivier, The Canadian Press’ Stéphane Rolland
© 2024 The Canadian Press
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