Harmony Bishchler says Regina’s inaugural Sweet Escape music festival, which she attended over the Labour Day weekend, had her asking, “Is this Fyre Festival again?”
Bischler was comparing the Regina event to 2017’s Fyre Festival, which promised a luxury music experience on an island in the Bahamas, but led to its organizer being jailed for fraud after its spectacular failure.
Months after the Regina festival, many people are still saying they didn’t get what they were promised and are owed money.
Internationally-renowned artist Polo G’s team says the artist is still owed $60,000.
The Hospitals of Regina Foundation says it has received none of the money from ticket sales that organizers promised.
Bishchler says she hasn’t been refunded or reimbursed for liquor tickets she bought at the event but couldn’t use. Some attendees also voiced concerns on social media about safety issues, refunds and paying for privileges they never got.
The festival’s organizers did not respond to interview requests for this story.
The lineup for Sweet Escape featured more than just Polo G when it came to international artists, like Fat Joe who was also making their Regina debuts.
But videos accessed by the CBC show two artists — Polo G and SonReal — alleging on stage that they weren’t paid by the organizers. Despite that, both the performers chose to do shortened sets for the crowd.
Some performers at the inaugural Sweet Escape festival, held over the Labour Day long weekend in Regina, alleged on stage that they weren’t paid, and attendees reported a lack of security at the music festival.
Two of the organizers, Simon Tekeste and Jeremy Lauagan, spoke to CBC about the concerns two days after the event. They said one performer — Jazz Cartier — wasn’t present because his payment didn’t go through.
Days after the event, the organizers had said they paid all the artists in full.
Tone, a manager and DJ for Polo G, said earlier this month that isn’t the case.
“We still haven’t got our full payment at all. It’s been excuse after excuse,” he said in an interview on Nov. 4.
“We came and did the show because Polo loved the fans. He didn’t do it because of the promoter. He did it just because there was fans out there.”
Tone said not getting paid doesn’t affect Polo G much, but hurts the behind-the-scenes team.
“Polo is … very mad. A lot of people’s jobs were at stake just due to this situation,” Tone said. “Everybody else who has to get paid off this show has not been paid, so it took food off people’s plates.”
When he spoke with CBC shortly after the festival, Tekeste said some artists didn’t get a portion of their pay because of “technical difficulties with the banks.”
The organizers didn’t provide CBC with proof of payment when asked.
Two other artists, Charly Hustle and Max Winds, said they were paid after the festival. Hustle said he was paid the very next day, but Winds didn’t disclose how long it took.
Winds, a Windsor, Ont.,-based artist, said meeting and connecting with artists that he’d looked up to overshadowed any issues.
“There’s the good and the bad side, and I feel like what I walked away with was a great experience. Even though it had its moments where it didn’t go accordingly, I still had a great time and I walked away with amazing connections.”
He said the artists were all confused while the fest was underway.
“Honestly, we all kind of felt like something was a little bit off,” he said. “We just didn’t know what was going on. All of us were kind of just out of the loop out of the details, so we had no idea what to expect, what not to expect.”
Organizers sold liquor tickets, but then said they couldn’t sell alcohol because there was no security on the premises on the second day of the festival. The organizers said security didn’t show up because of “circumstances out of [our] control.” They refused to name the security company or elaborate about the circumstances.
The Regina Police Service said it had officers in Victoria Park — the festival’s location — and did routine walk-throughs on Friday. It said officers responded to one injured person and one overdose outside of the festival on Friday.
In September, the promoters said they were working on drink ticket refunds, but Bischler said she hasn’t received anything.
The organizers said ticket proceeds would go to Hospitals of Regina Foundation, as mentioned on the Sweet Escape website. The foundation said via email it hasn’t received any money.
Valentina Melodna, a Regina-based artist, said she had won a local hip-hop battle for a chance to perform, but withdrew after she arrived and saw what was going on.
“Once I saw what was happening behind the scenes, I was like, ‘Absolutely not.’ Like, it was obviously fraudulent, and it’s kind of embarrassing for the city,” she said.
“No one could tell me differently because I saw it happening. I heard it happening. I heard the people that weren’t getting paid. I was backstage, like, it’s just crazy.”
Melodna said the organizers had verbally told her that it was a paid gig, but she never heard what that payment looked like or when that might come. She said the organizers haven’t gotten in touch with her to offer any apologies.
“It was embarrassing. I was over here promoting this event, and then it turned out to be this event, and now I look stupid,” she said.
The promoters told CBC after the event they still considered it a success.
Melodna said she’s skeptical that artists of Polo G’s calibre will ever come back to Regina. Meanwhile, local artists might face stigma when performing elsewhere.
“Anytime I were to go anywhere, the moment I mention Regina, what are they going to associate it with? This festival. And even worse, if they look up this festival, they’re going to see my name,” she said.
“There’s nothing about Regina already to the outside eye. And now, all that we have is this.”
