As Nova Scotia’s arts and culture sector continues to face the brunt of the cuts to public funding, two Halifax businesses are putting money behind a local fashion event they say brings creativity, diversity and economic activity to the downtown core.
The Downtown Halifax Business Commission and Patterson Law are supporting Halifax Fashion Week, which is now in its fifth year. The commission has sponsored the event since its launch in 2021, while Patterson Law has joined as a sponsor this year.
Their support comes as artists and arts organizations across the province contend with reductions to government funding.
In February, the Nova Scotia government announced a provincial budget that eliminated $130 million in grant programs, with the bulk of the cuts targeting programs within the Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage. The cuts affected 72 programs, ranging from 20 per cent to 100 percent.
The government announced a $53.6-million reversal of some of the cuts in March, but funding reductions affecting arts and culture remained.
The sector was also campaigning against a proposed 10-per-cent reduction to municipal arts funding in Halifax.
For local businesses supporting Halifax Fashion Week, the investment is about more than fashion.
“It will add, like, an energy and vibrancy to the downtown area,” says Allana MacDonald Mills, director of marketing at the Downtown Halifax Business Commission.
“When you have increased foot traffic that come for these events, and they then go and visit our businesses, our restaurants and cafes and shops, so they help support our local businesses.”
The Downtown Halifax Business Commission began working with Halifax Fashion Week from 2021 onwards, “during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many events were not operating.
“There was a bit of a gap in our events happening downtown,” MacDonald Mills says. “There was at that time, there was no other fashion events happening.”
The commission’s event sponsorship program is designed to attract events to downtown Halifax and increase activity in the area. Sponsorships generally range from $250 to $7,500, depending in part on expected attendance.
MacDonald Mills says the commission’s marketing action team, made up of representatives from downtown businesses and organizations, saw Halifax Fashion Week as an event with room to grow.
“We all really felt like that this event has legs that can grow and keep growing over the years, and it has done that since 2021,” she says.
Since its first year, the event has expanded to include more venues; now in its fifth year, runs from Aug. 8 to Aug. 15, with its closing night set to take place at the Lighthouse Art Centre at 1800 Argyle St.
“I just only see this event growing bigger and getting better throughout the years and becoming really, like, a marquee event for the Dent and Halifax area,” MacDonald Mills says.
For the Downtown Halifax Business Commission, fashion is also part of a broader commitment to supporting the city’s arts and culture community.
MacDonald Mills says many of the events the commission sponsors are arts and culture-based, from markets promoting local artists and artisans to larger events.
“We really, we really put priority on helping to sponsor and promote those type of events,” she says.
“We think it’s really important to support our arts and culture community, especially in downtown Halifax where we have a very artsy downtown.”
Patterson Law is taking a similar approach.
The firm initially supported Halifax Fashion Week by sponsoring its Mental Health Day, which kicked off the week. After conversations with organizers, the firm learned that the Rooted Runway did not have a sponsor and decided to support it as well.
Patterson Law contributed $3,500 to the Root It Runway. The firm also provided financial support for Mental Health Day.
Julie K. MacPhee, a partner at Patterson Law, says the firm’s decision was rooted in its belief in representation.
“Patterson Law really believes that having representation is important, and that’s reflected in our firm in a number of ways,” MacPhee says.
She pointed to the firm’s female management team and the fact that it has more female partners than male partners.
MacPhee says those values are reflected in Shortte’s approach to Halifax Fashion Week and its effort to create space for people who have traditionally been underrepresented in fashion.
“And I see those same values reflected in what’s trying to do with Halifax Fashion Week and ensuring that the Runway and the fashion industry in Nova Scotia reflects everyone in our community,” she says.
MacPhee’s connection to the event is also personal.
Her daughter, Corinne Cameron, is a local model who got her start modelling at Halifax Fashion Week. MacPhee says watching her daughter participate in fashion has given her a firsthand understanding of the importance of representation.
Cameron has a disability, and MacPhee says that the founder of Halifax Fashion week Solitha Shortte’s message to her daughter has remained consistent.
“And Soli’s message to her was and always has been that you are exactly who you are meant to be,” MacPhee says. “You don’t need to be anyone else.”
“And the industry should change for you. You should not change for it.”
For MacPhee, that message extends beyond a runway.
MacPhee also sees Halifax Fashion Week as an opportunity for the wider community to recognize the economic and cultural value of supporting local artists.
“It makes our community more vibrant,” she says. “It brings business into the area.”
Both sponsors see the event as an intersection between arts, community and the local economy.
MacDonald Mills says people who come downtown for fashion events can also discover restaurants, cafes, shops and other businesses, creating a ripple effect beyond the event itself.
MacPhee encouraged other businesses to consider supporting the event, saying there are “lots of opportunities to support Halifax Fashion Week that are excellent sponsorship opportunities for local businesses.”
For MacDonald Mills, the hope is that people who may not traditionally see themselves as part of the fashion world will still attend.
“I think for many people, fashion can sometimes be a little bit intimidating,” she says. “They may think it’s not for them, but I really encourage people to come out and take part in Fashion Week this year.”
The event, she says, showcases local designers, models and photographers and is intended to be accessible to the wider community.
“It’s really fun event that’s really open for everybody and really accessible to everyone,” MacDonald Mills says.
As government arts funding remains under pressure, the support from local businesses offers another source of investment for Halifax’s creative community.
“I hope that people will give it a chance and come out and see it, and then they’ll probably fall in love with it and come out again and again every year,” MacDonald Mills says.
