Changes coming to 2025 Pride Toronto festival amid rising costs, sponsorship uncertainties

Volunteers with Pride Toronto carry a large rainbow flag during the 2019 Pride Parade in Toronto, Saturday, June 23, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Lahodynskyj

The 2025 Pride Toronto festival will see some notable changes as organizers deal with the “crippling” cost of running the four-day event, coupled with the loss of three key corporate sponsors.

Speaking with CP24.com late Wednesday afternoon, Executive Director Kojo Modeste says they’ve made the decision to cancel the stage at Dundas and Church streets and are pausing a two-day mini festival on the Toronto Islands.

Modeste also added that this year’s festival, which is set to run from June 26 to 30, will see the focus placed on featuring more local artists, instead of international headliners, as the non-profit organization faces the reality of doing more with less.

“We do hope that we won’t have to make any other significant changes,” he said.

Modeste says the goal is for Pride Toronto to keep its head above water and not get into any significant financial trouble.

The festival, which started in 1981 and celebrates the diversity of the LGBTQ2S+ community, has an annual income of roughly $5.5 million, with about half coming from sponsors. The remainder of the funds it needs come from government grants and donors.

Modeste says they typically touch base with sponsors, many of which are returning ones with multi-year deals, in January to firm up their commitment, and in turn, make concrete plans for that summer’s event.

It was then, he said, that they found out that three major sponsors are reducing their contributions, potentially pulling out of Pride Toronto entirely. That expected shortfall amounts to roughly $300,000.

An undisclosed number of other sponsors have also cut back or may reduce their financial support, he added.

Modeste says the three companies in question, which he declined to name, either told them that there had been a “shift in priorities,” or that financially it was “not a good year” and they’re reevaluating their partnerships.

“I strongly believe that there is a level of fear that might be instilled in those folks,” he said, pointing to U.S. President Donald Trump’s disdain for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and his push to eliminate them federally.

“The rising sentiment in the United States is you’re either with us or against us.”

A number of American companies as well as some Canadian ones, notably those in the tech sector, have since followed suit.

Modeste said some of the companies that sponsor Pride Toronto operate both in Canada and the United States, and are likely feeling pressure to abandon their support for DEI initiatives.

Nonetheless, he said he’s hopeful that they’ll be able to persuade those corporations in question to resume funding, and if that’s not possible, that arrangements can be made for them to “work with us differently.”

Modeste added that he sees this latest challenge as “an opportunity for all three levels of government to step up and lead by example and support the work that is happening [at Pride Toronto].”

He noted that Pride festivals in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Ottawa have a major economic impact on the city, the province, and the country, bringing in more than $1 billion in gross domestic product combined.

“It would be a major loss if Pride Toronto {or others] went away or were significantly reduced,” Modeste said, adding that this isn’t the first time that they’ve faced significant challenges, and it won’t be the last.

“I believe we can overcome this one also, but how long will it take?”