Cultural Chaos canceled this year amid rising costs

EASTHAMPTON — Cultural Chaos, the annual street festival that draws thousands to the Cottage Street Cultural District each summer, is canceled this year due to steep cost increases to host the event.

“I think that Easthampton City Arts runs a lot of robust and dynamic programming and Cultural Chaos is a beloved touchstone annual event,” said Pasqualina Azzarello, the arts and culture program director for the city of Easthampton and coordinator of Easthampton City Arts (ECA). “It’s (now) a question of what happens when we take that funding and the resources involved, and reimagine them in a different format.”

Azzarello said the decision does not come to her and all ECA members involved lightly, and was made after many ongoing discussions. She also sees new possibilities for future events, some of which are already being planned.

Cultural Chaos began in 2013 as an initiative of the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Cultural District program, and has grown each year since. Azzarello contributes toward the event’s planning extensively through the ECA, and said with the growth it has seen, there are also rising costs.

Those added costs are due to a mix of inflation, increasing the number of performers and artists and public safety requirements. The popular event would have cost close to $25,000 to produce this year, a number that has grown rapidly after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Azzarello said.

The event is mainly funded through sponsors and the ECA budget, which is folded into the city’s annual budget, to pay for things like performers, public safety requirements, portable restrooms and more.

“Ever since Cultural Chaos took a two-year hiatus during COVID and when we resumed in June of 2022, we noticed a significant rise in costs in that what became a three-year gap,” Azzarello said. “What we didn’t anticipate was the degree that costs continued to rise each and every year since.”

Azzarello said when she first began organizing Cultural Chaos in 2017, it cost approximately $10,000. In 2022, it was $13,000 and that number shot up fast.

As the event has grown and generated more foot and vehicle traffic each year, Azzarello said necessary public safety requirements such as barricades and the road closure have also contributed to the rising cost.

While cost has been the driving factor for the decision, the extensive amount of time it takes to plan the event is another. Azzarello said it takes hundreds of hours spread throughout half a year leading up to the event to plan.

“It’s definitely the cost involved that is very clear and there is also the amount of planning for the logistics, and coordination that’s involved,” Azzarello said.

The decision was made official at the ECA Coordinating Committee’s Feb. 2 meeting on Monday, which includes nine members. At the next Cottage Street Cultural District Subcommittee meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 11, Azzarello said future plans will be discussed and members of the public are welcome. Both of these committees are under the purview of ECA.

While she said Cultural Chaos is canceled this year, ECA is open to hearing public input and creating a different version of the event in the future.

Azzarello said while the decision does not come lightly, this gives ECA an opportunity to reflect upon its mission and consider ways to better align resources. Planning series of events rather than just one on Cottage Street is a way ECA hopes to continue honoring its mission.

Currently, Azzarello said the ECA is planning approximately 15 new events, including music series on the Nashawannuck Pond Promenade, — also known as the Boardwalk — collaborations with the Cottage Street Merchants Association and new community events for people of all ages to enjoy in the Cottage Street Cultural District and beyond.

“What we are finding if we are to use the same amount of funding and the same amount of time, we can plan series, a number of different series of events that can take place in the Cottage Street Cultural District throughout the course of the upcoming year,” Azzarello said.

An ECA newsletter states that because each of these new programs will utilize the City’s existing infrastructure and can take place without closing city streets, all of the funds spent will directly support local artists, musicians, poets and performers.

Azzarello said there were three main goals of Cultural Chaos: to create a sense of belonging, to create opportunities for artists, performers and residents to engage in the community and to bring increased business to storefronts.

“A core part of it’s (Cultural Chaos) purpose is driving business to our beloved storefronts, so we are keeping these three goals in mind for all of the new programming we are putting together,” Azzarello said. “We are looking to achieve these goals in new forms and we are absolutely committed to assessing how things,” progress in the future.

Azzarello said there is currently a general uncertainty for artists regarding the stability of their funding sources, something that ECA has taken into consideration with this decision.

“There is a lot of uncertainty of future funding in general for arts and programming,” she said.

Moving forward, Azzarello wants the public to know that ECA remains committed to its mission to create positive, innovative and accessible arts programming and cultural events to support the community. She said ECA will involve the public in future decisions and is grateful for the support that the event has seen.

“I am personally really open to seeing what comes of this year of exploration and to working with the ECA Committee and the Cottage Street Cultural District Subcommittee, as well as members of the public, to make new choices that can be informed by what we learn,” Azzarello said.

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