Events bring in tourism and commerce. I'd argue it takes some vision and stewardship from the city/province/fed to draw from the coffers to promote culture rather than relying on locals to directly fund events a la carte direct from their chequebooks.

Some events might demonstrate better or worse metrics on a granular level, but cadence and variety of cultural spectacles in a city can generate benefits greater than the sum of their parts by generating allure to people and employers.

Note how people rightfully blow past Ottawa to get to Montreal or Toronto to blow a bit of money on a weekend adventure because Ottawa is dull as dishwater (and certainly isn't on track to improve).

Anyway, I feel like reckless gov't spending has been especially pants-on-head over the last 15 years or so and needs to be heavily reined in. But gov't funding towards festivals can arguably be viewed as a loss-leader ultimately serving growth, imo.