A festival dies.

Montreal's Festival International de Nouvelle Danse (FIND) ceased operations at the end of 2003 because of "insurmountable" financial problems that included a $600,000 (CDN) deficit. The biennial FIND was Canada'sonly major international dance festival, and was a leading showcase for dance innovation that attracted critics, presenters and academics from around the world. The eleventh and final festival, which cost $1.8 million, was held over a twelve-day period last October. The festival had previously announced plans to become an annual event, starting in the fall of this year, as part of an overall restructuring of FIND as a "laboratory" for dance research [see "Montreal Retools its Festival," Dance Matters, DANCE MAGAZINE, January 2003, page 14]. Organizers say that FIND, which received little more than half its budget from federal, provincial, and municipal government sources, was chronically underfunded in comparison with similar European arts festivals.

FIND's money problems began to compound in 2001 when festival attendance dropped in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. The earlier loss of Hydro-Quebec as a major corporate sponsor in 1995 and continuing private fund-raising difficulties exacerbated FIND's financial plight. Although the Quebec ministry of culture offered a special $100,000 grant to help FIND through its most recent difficulties, the festival's board of directors decided to disband to disband the organization.

FIND WAS CO-FOUNDED in 1982 by Montrealers Diane Boucher and Chantal Pontbriand and American-born Dena Davida. The first festival was held in 1985. Ponthriand quickly established her leadership as FIND's president director, and by 2002 she was the only co founder still connected with the event.

Montreal was already a thriving dance centre when FIND began, but the festival opened new international opportunities for such local choreographers as Edouard Lock, Ginette Laurin, Marie Chouinard, and Paul-Andre Fortier. FIND also provided a North American beachhead for some of the most innovative foreign artists as well as becoming a prestigious engagement for such well-known troupes as Germany's Ballett Frankfurt, Belgium's Rosas, Britain's DV8 Physical Theatre, France's Compagnie Maguy Marin, and Japan's Company Karas. Cumulative attendance at the eleven festivals exceeded 500,000, and involved more than 300 choreographers and 3,000 performers.

The festival, however, had its critics. Pontbriand was often accused of applying a narrow aesthetic to her programming choices and, by extension, of-largely ignoring choreographers from English-speaking parts of Canada and even the United States. Paula Citron, dance critic for Canada's national Globe and Mail Newspaper, lambasted the 2003 FIND for being "fixated on a prevailing Eurocentric aesthetic," and said that Pontbriand had effectively cut English Canadian choreographers off from important international exposure.

PONTBRIAND'S SINGLE-MINDED determination breathed energy into FIND but she was also portrayed as an autocrat who, until it was too late, failed to foster the kind of cooperative links and co-production arrangements beyond Montreal that might have provided FIND with a broader foundation and earned it wider political support. "She really burned bridges," says Davida. Although leading figures from across Canada's dance community lamented the collapse of FIND there were few condolences for Pontbriand herself Already there is talk of replacing FIND with a more financially sustainable event. The Quebec government has indicated that the money allocated to FIND could be made available to other Montreal presenters willing to till the void.