"The real goal for us was to put together a first-rate event with the limited funding that's available," said Mr. Armour.
Music and Beyond, which ran from July 5 to 14, was put together on a projected $600,000 budget that was actually more like $450,000, he said.
This hardly seems like enough to cover big-name pianists such as Peter Serkin and Menahem Pressler, but he said many musicians agreed to receive lower compensation to help get the festival on its feet, said Mr. Armour.
"In a first-year festival, people are willing to give breaks, but once you're established I think you deal more with people's usual expectations of fees," said Mr. Armour, who founded the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival in 1994 as executive director of the Ottawa Chamber Music Society.
He resigned from that post in 2007.
Although Mr. Armour said numbers on the festival's economic impact won't be available for another month, he indicated attendance would have been much stronger without the soaring temperatures that struck during the festival's July 5 to 14 run date.
"We had a real heat problem this year," said Mr. Armour. "It could happen again next year, but the odds are unlikely."
The real goal of a first-run festival isn't to break attendance records, but more to establish itself as a viable event – that way it can attract more concertgoers next year and qualify for arts and tourism grants, said Mr. Armour.
This year Mr. Armour and his team of two worked out of a donated office, and Mr. Armour didn't draw a salary. But next year, after demonstrating musical quality and tourism generation, the festival will be eligible for more grants and hopefully will attract more sponsors, he said.
"I feel very comfortable that we'll be able to demonstrate we're right at the top in terms of calibre and we'll be very successful with arts grants."
The festival attracted local backers such as Bridgehead, Claridge Homes, Blue Line Taxi and Juniper Kitchen and Wine Bar, but has no title sponsorship as of yet.
"(Title sponsorship) takes a good year of development, but we expect to have some next year," said Mr. Armour.
In terms of tourism, Mr. Armour insists the festival fills a gap.
"There used to be a lot more classical music in the summer and now there's almost none," he said. "(Classical) music lovers were leaving Ottawa, (and) they were going to other cities and other festivals."
Mr. Armour also says the festival helps fill what he says is a traditional dip in local hotel bookings in July. He says hotel capacity sits at around 80 per cent for both June and August, but adds that figure dips to 60 per cent for much of July.
Dick Brown, executive director of the Ottawa Gatineau Hotel Association, said that although July's hotel occupancy numbers were slightly less than June and August last year – June 2009 was at 74 per cent, July was at 65 per cent, and August was at 69 per cent – the real growth potential is for the summer in general.
"Ottawa hotels in July and August have more capacity than they do in springtime," said Mr. Brown, adding that June of this year rose to a 77-per-cent occupancy rate. Numbers for July of this year aren't yet available, he said.
He said the summer is traditionally quieter because, although there is more leisure travel, business travel slows to a trickle.
With a bigger budget next year, Mr. Armour said better marketing and advanced timelines are two things he will do to increase turnout.
An expanded marketing budget will attract music lovers from around the world, and longer timelines will give sponsors more time to get on board, he said.
After all, said Mr. Armour, the festival is already world-class in terms of talent.
"This is the kind of line-up that would make anyone in any city drool," he said.
-By Mathew Klie-Cribb
