TD returns as title sponsor for Irie Music festival

With an average of 100,000 festival goers and growing, TD Bank is back as title sponsor of the Toronto and Mississauga IRIE Music Festival celebrations, extending the successful relationship for a seventh straight year.

TD IRIE Music Festival returns to Mississauga’s Celebration Square on Saturday, July 13 & Sunday, July 14, 2013 culminating with the original TD IRIE Music Festival in downtown Toronto at Nathan Phillips Square, Friday, August 2 through Monday, August 5.

City and OMNI Television return once more of as official television sponsors of all three IRIE locations and weekends as the festival adds  IRIE Oshawa at Oshawa Memorial Park on Saturday, July 20 & Sunday, July 21, 2013, making the music, arts and culture celebration a truly GTA-wide experience. Both stations provide on-air support and television coverage during the festivities.  

Co-founder and Artistic Director, Phil Vassell says “IRIE Fest is a fun, free, family friendly showcase of the best in Reggae and world music, dance, great food and other artistic endeavours. That is what

Irie Music Festival has always been about. This year, we’ve consolidated our downtown Toronto

festivities at the newly revamped and renovated Nathan Phillips Square, and branched out to include

Peel and Durham regions and better connect with the culturally diverse populations in those

communities as well.”

“TD is a proud supporter of the IRIE Music Festival. For us, it’s about community building and making a difference by investing in the diverse communities where we live, work and play.  That’s why TD gave almost $65 million to community initiatives in North America last year. To our more than 87,000 employees from around the world, it’s part of what makes us The Better Bank.” — Scott Mullin, Vice President, Community Relations, TD Bank Group

Irie Music Festival has, and continues to enjoy the generous support of organizations from all levels of government including Canadian Heritage which has supported the festival since its inception. Now support has grown to include Celebrate Ontario, Ontario Arts Council, the City of Toronto, City of Mississauga, City of Oshawa and various tourism organizations.

Public Mobile also returns for a second year, joining Irie Music Festival in featuring the best in Reggae & World music, including Soca, Salsa, African Diasporic, and a special summer dance showcase curated by Dance Immersion.

 

Last year the festival saw an increase in radio support with sponsorship by the new G98.7 FM.  CIUT 89.5 FM provided two days of live-to-air broadcast of the festival in Toronto; and the festival received advertising support on Western New York’s WBLK 93.7 FM and Toronto’s CHRY 105.5 FM. The festival also was successful in utilizing numerous GTA summer and ‘what’s happening’ guides as well as social media platforms. An expanded social media presence including a YouTube channel is planned for the 2013 edition.