After A Quiet Play for Sundance, Traverse City Leaders Seek Next Event to Fill Film Fest Gap

At the request of state officials, Traverse Connect put together a time-sensitive and (until now) confidential pitch this spring for Traverse City to be considered as the new home for the Sundance Film Festival. Sundance, exploring new host cities for 2027 and beyond, did not select Traverse City for its list of finalists. But the pitch reveals efforts by local leaders to fill the gap left by the cancellation of the Traverse City Film Festival – either with other cultural and/or late-summer programming or with more shoulder-season festivals and events.

The Michigan Film & Digital Media Office – a division of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) – contacted Traverse Connect on April 29 about submitting a proposal for Traverse City to host Sundance, according to emails obtained by The Ticker. Traverse Connect had just two days to respond, as the initial request-for-information (RFI) was due to Sundance by May 1. As part of the RFI process, local officials had to agree to a confidentiality agreement required by Sundance.

Traverse Connect reached out to organizations including Traverse City Tourism and the Traverse City Downtown Development Authority (DDA) about serving on a host committee required in the RFI. “(The RFI) was a step toward trying to find out more and showcasing our willingness to move forward with discussions,” says Trevor Tkach of Traverse City Tourism. When asked whether Traverse City could realistically host a festival the size of Sundance – which had approximately 86,824 attendees in 2023, including 21,400 out-of-state visitors who spent an estimated $97 million in Utah during the event – Tkach says that would depend on Sundance’s direction going forward.

“I think it’s hard to answer that, because I don’t know what the new Sundance is going to look like,” he says. “People in the industry have mixed iterations of what it should be: either a bigger festival in a bigger city or getting back to the quaint environment it used to be in the beginning. We definitely could provide that unique quaint experience.” Camille Hoisington of Traverse Connect acknowledges that landing Sundance “was always going to be a long shot, but we felt it was too big of an opportunity to pass up.”

Sundance announced in April that it will host its 2025 and 2026 festivals in Park City, Utah – its longtime home – but look to move locations in 2027 when its contract with Park City expires. Sundance launched a national RFI process to solicit proposals from cities across the U.S., which it narrowed to a reported list of 15 finalists. Sundance is expected to make a final decision – which could include staying in Utah – later this year or early next year. 

Traverse City met the May 1 RFI deadline, but did not make the cut. According to Deadline, cities invited to move on to the RFP phase include Park City, Sante Fe, San Francisco, jurisdictions in upstate New York and North Carolina, and three cities in Georgia (Atlanta, Athens, and Savannah). Georgia has the largest film and TV tax credit in the country.

While Sundance won’t be coming to northern Michigan, that hasn’t deterred Traverse City Tourism and Traverse Connect from seeking out other events to fill the gap created by the Traverse City Film Festival’s cancellation in 2023 after a nearly two-decade run. TCFF has since changed models to offer a year-round film series called “TCFF Tuesdays,” which has been highly successful at the State Theatre. That series, and activities like free downtown movies in Rotary Square, have been “cool and additive” for Traverse City, Tkach says. However, from both a cultural cache and tourism perspective – including bringing major celebrities to Traverse City, filling hotel rooms, and supporting local merchants and restaurants with a weeklong festival – they can’t replace the original iteration, Tkach says.

“What you see with leisure travel destinations in the summer is you have a high point on the weekends and drop off midweek,” Tkach says. “So having a festival with midweek events is huge for our economy. It had an impact on accommodations and on businesses in general (when TCFF was cancelled).” Events like Traverse City Horse Shows and the National Cherry Festival are still major summer players, but there’s a particular need for late-summer and shoulder-season programming, Tkach says. That has led Traverse City Tourism to invest in events like the International Fireworks Championship (September 6-7 this year) and the Traverse City Comedy Fest (dates TBD early 2025).

Traverse City Tourism is also exploring bringing Ironman back to Traverse City in 2025. Traverse City hosted the inaugural Ironman 70.3 race in 2019, but the race moved to Frankfort from 2021 to 2024. Participation there has been down, in part because not enough accommodations are available for athletes. Tkach says the event isn’t sustainable remaining in Frankfort. If it moves to Traverse City, it will likely be with an “entirely different bike course and run course” to resolve challenges from the first race, he says.

Hoisington says having “well-known landmark events” can put the region on the map for people who might never have heard of Traverse City. That’s key for tourism, but also for attracting and retaining employees, she says. “We know that economies with creative industries are outshining their peers economically, and often they're small or medium-sized communities like ours,” she says. “A vibrant arts and culture scene is an important part of what people are looking for when they look to relocate.”

Hoisington says throwing Traverse City’s hat into the ring for Sundance “is part of our bigger effort to bring events like this to the region.” That goes not just for arts events, but programming “themed around innovation and industry,” she says – including everything from AquaHacking to the Michigan Outdoor Summit to Lakebed 2030.

Tkach says Traverse City Tourism would support TCFF returning or welcome another film festival to the community. Such an event doesn’t have to be in July or August, he adds, believing a festival would do well in the spring or fall. While TCFF Founder Michael Moore could not be reached for comment, he previously told The Ticker TCFF might look at doing smaller themed festivals at different times of year. However, he emphasized TCFF’s focus will remain on sustaining the State Theatre and Bijou by the Bay and that TCFF couldn’t take any big financial risks – the main reason the summer festival was cancelled.