CNMN acknowledges the financial support of FACTOR, the Government of Canada and of Canada’s private radio broadcasters.

CNMN would like to thank the Longshadow festival for its generous hospitality and for their help in making this conversation possible.

This conversation took place on June 9th 2024th at Carment Braden’s studio, in Yellowknife.

This conversation was opened by land acknowledgement delivered by CNMN current general director Raphaël Foisy-Couture recognizing that this conversation took place in Chief Drygeese Territory in Treaty 8, the traditional land of the Yellowknives Dene and home to the North Slave Métis, and the Tłı̨chǫ people.

Foisy-Couture also took a moment to thank and congratulate the Longshadow team and artists for the amount of artistic care and respect that went into making this festival possible and for letting CNMN contribute to it. Foisy-Couture also took a moment to thank his hosts Rob Elo, Naima Jutha and Forest for welcoming him into their home; and to express an enormous amount of gratitude to Carmen without whom CNMN’s presence would not have been possible. All participants also took a moment to go in a circle to present themselves to the group.

This conversation featured short keynote interventions about the Canadian Music Incubator from guest Rob Elo and featured Robert Uchida and the Garneau Strings Quartet as guest contributors.

It was moderated by Raphaël Foisy-Couture in tandem with Longshadow’s co-artistic director Carmen Braden. Apart from specific interventions from the moderator and keynote speakers the contributions of every other participant is anonymized (X).

This conversation was attended by several artists and musicians who participated in the Longshadow music festival as well as multiple local musicians and art workers. We thanked them for their generous inputs.

In order to better expose the realities and dynamics at work in the field of creative music and sound practice in Yellowknife, and the Northwestern Territories, and to celebrate CNMN first conversation in the region, this report includes an extensive transcription of the discussion that took place. Edits were made strictly in order to facilitate the comprehension and the reading experience.

Topics Covered in the Conversation

Context and Challenges in Yellowknife

• Geographic, economic, and artistic uniqueness of Yellowknife
• Lack of artistic infrastructure and barriers to accessing funding
• Challenges for Northern musicians: isolation, travel costs, and lack of venues

Sustainability in Music

• Environmental and structural sustainability
• Balancing the carbon footprint of touring with local enrichment
• Economic and social impact of small, community-focused events

Community and Collaboration

• Importance of relationship-building within the artistic community
• The role of festivals and organizations in fostering collaboration
• Cross-cultural and intergenerational opportunities in music-making

Youth Engagement and Education

• The need for music education in schools
• Importance of accessible venues for young musicians
• Opportunities to foster early experiences with music and performance

Barriers to Career Development for Northern Artists

• Limited access to resources like grants and managers.
• Lack of local performance opportunities and touring support.
• Challenges in navigating grant systems and the music industry

Advocacy and Policy

• Government and corporate responsibility in supporting the arts
• Opportunities to leverage Yellowknife’s uniqueness for cultural branding
• Calls for better infrastructure and corporate sponsorship

Canadian Music Incubator (CMI) Experiences

• Reflections on the value of the program for professional development
• Insights on royalties, rights, and the importance of registering music
• Challenges with social media, self-marketing, and personal growth in the industry

SOCAN and Music Licensing

• Importance of registering with SOCAN and understanding rights
• Roles and responsibilities of artists and venues in licensing and royalties
• Practical steps for musicians to secure their intellectual property

Cultural Identity and Diversity in Music

• Integrating Dene, Métis, Inuit, and other cultural traditions into the music scene
• Opportunities for cultural exchange and collaboration
• Embracing diversity to create a unified, distinctive artistic community

DIY Approaches and Experimental Music

• Insights from experimental and DIY music practices
• Building alternative venues and fostering grassroots communities
• Expanding accessibility to non-traditional forms of music-making

Economic and Social Impact of Music

• Research into the economic multiplier effects of community-based music.
• Comparison with international models like Reykjavik and Dawson City.
• Music as a low-consumption economic activity with potential for growth.

Festival Reflections and Artist Experiences

• Collaborative experiences during the Longshadow Festival.
• Personal growth, inspiration, and mutual learning among participants.
• Emotional and creative fulfillment through collective music-making.

Opening question from Raphaël Foisy-Couture: 

So I’ll just ask a first question to open the discussion and then we can discuss about this: “How can music and sound organizations support artistic work and initiatives that both promote greater awareness of climate issues and engage in the authoring of a healthier world?”. I know this is already a fairly big question. I’ll answer first that as an organization, this is something we’ve tried to do by having these meetings. To, first of all, think about it, but also, by engaging more and more in community initiatives that also share, I think, a lot of resources and engage with challenges of that perspective. I think that’s personally what I’ve noticed a lot here. I’ve been amazed by the sharing of resources and how everybody kind of really seemed to have a very collaborative mindset. To be able to do things that probably wouldn’t be possible if you were hoping to do them alone or in a more traditional or commercial way. That’s been very inspiring for me to see. If anybody wants to maybe share something on the particularly, very rare, situation of Yellowknife, I’d be happy to hear [more] about this. 

-You’re asking about how to use music to help promote such things as environmental awareness and that sort of thing. Is that the point of your question? 

-Raphaël Foisy-Couture: It can be. 

- And that’s also part of the question is, does it have to be explicit in the music or perhaps it’s more on an organizational level or how we collectively organize?

- Raphaël Foisy-Couture: If you think it needs to be more in the music, that’s something that is very valuable and interesting and I’d be happy to hear you say more about this. 

- I’ve not thought about it before, but the first thing that came to my mind when you posed the question there was something like Folk on the Rocks, the music festival here every year. Having some sort of a presence from an organization [dealing with climate, environmental awareness and sustainability issues] at the festival, whether on stage or in one of the booths or something like that. And using that kind of an occasion to interact with people and promote the purposes of the organization that way. That would be one idea anyway. Just a quick one. And maybe even […] say something at NACC (Northern Arts and Cultural Center).

-  I was going to say that.

- Yeah, so maybe have a poster board or a booth of some sort at the big performances at NACC, something like that.

- Maybe I feel like what comes to mind right away is somebody who’s not here, like Munya Mandarus. His videos that he makes himself and the videos that he made of Longshadow, the events that we have here.I guess Longshadow was more indoors, but the music videos he films of his music, it’s African music, coming in our landscape, in the Yellowknife landscape. And having an organization like yours that could share that sort of thing.  And Folk on the Rocks […] brings up artists that engage with our landscape and our community. And just […]making national awareness to the beauty that we’re surrounded with here and to the community that we have here, both artistic and otherwise. I think that’s really nice. It’s creating more art, essentially, that has to do with the community. […] Songs that Ryan McCord writes, […] you know, folk music. This is great folk music, but that’s talking about Yellowknife specifically. Visuals that are displaying what Yellowknife is all about and having someone like the Canadian New Music Network to share that with the rest of Canada. Hopefully that’s inspirational in a way that can affect the rest of the country, I guess. Like:  “wow, there’s a community that really works and really interacts with its natural environment!”.

- I think also something that would help musicians to have a clear sense of how, what’s the way to describe this? […] Ways that can direct people’s activism to pressure the government within the music industry specifically to address things like the consolidation of the live music industry around really huge, very carbon-intensive performances. So we see this in the US, and here and in other places to a lesser extent, major ticket providers really strangling smaller music venues and skewing the music industry towards these hugely financially and carbon-intensive performances and touring systems that are shutting out an awful lot of musicians. […] I don’t know really [know] what [is] sort of the overall economic impact on the music sector. Even just funding some research into that specifically would be really interesting, just to see how much people who are considering careers in the performing arts, […] how much are they relying on getting into this, that end of the industry that relies on these very big performances? And what can we do as activists, what can the government do as policymakers to address that a little bit? […] It’s kind of a little bit dry maybe, but it’s sort of a practical concern for how we might, as musicians, push for a less carbon-intensive industry overall. 

-  I [originally] had some thoughts about minimizing carbon impact on traveling musicians and just flights and things like that. But then my thought kind of spun 180 and I realized we brought up four musicians and the whole community gets to experience an enriching cultural moment; so now a hundred people didn’t have to travel somewhere else. So because Yellowknife is isolated, I think the more great enriching opportunities that we can bring up here for this community, the less people have that itch to travel down for a festival. 

-  It would be wonderful to fund some research into the economic multipliers of exactly what you’re describing. What is the impact of these sort of smaller, more intimate events that are made possible through small independent venues versus, the thing you’re talking about, a hundred people traveling to go and see a big landmark show where it’s maybe 200 bucks or 300 bucks a ticket. 

-  Which [people] will still do because it’s awesome, but maybe less often if and because we have more going on here. […] It’s probably more economical to bring the action here.

- Garneau String Quartet: Because we were here, we were able to go to schools in little communities outside of Yellowknife and play for people there who would otherwise probably not consider taking a plane to Edmonton. […] I would imagine that once you get them here (artists) you want to make sure that you bring them places so people can hear different things in their own environment… You bring the artist there.

- I think it’s also very valuable to have these small groups come up and have these intimate performances and interactions with people here because I remember the first time I saw — I grew up in where there was lots of fiddle players —  a full string quartet, it was at the open sky festival in Fort Simpson which is very small — So good! They do some really cool stuff —  and I was a young kid and I saw this for the first time and It Immediately really captured my interest. And kind of going from there, I got here (studying composition and playing). And so [to] bring those experiences to communities that wouldn’t really have them is a really good way to inspire that. And then ten years later you have this group of young musicians, composers, performers in the community doing stuff which is also a really great way to bring it up.

- That brings something up that I was thinking too. There are other festivals here in the Northwest Territories in the smaller communities, such as the Open Sky. There used to be one in Fort Smith called the Friendship Festival; there’s the Great Northern Music Festival up in Inuvik; there was for a while Midway Lake Festival right in the middle of nowhere near Fort McPherson… Those festivals like that could stand support as well. It is very important that we keep what we have going on here. Those other smaller festivals have values as well. You were taking about the effect and the influence it had on you, it could be (influential) for other people there as well. It’s not just here in Yellowknife but also in other places as well, that there are people interested in the issues that we are talking about here.

- The NWT (Northwestern Territories) economy is very resource based, or at least that’s certainly what’s promoted mostly by the government, but they are also talking about the diversification of the economy and music as a whole, it is very low ressource use, right? So just environmentally, those huge festivals aside, for the most part it’s a non-consumptive way of living and we should promote that more and celebrate that in our economy a lot more. I mean this (many) number of people making at least part of their living with music is huge and so much less consumptive than the other kind of stuff and economic activities that are usually promoted up here.

-  That’s a really important point, and you’ve articulated it really well. Doing what we can to help people pursue careers in performing arts. I think that maybe we face barriers up here that people don’t have in other places. I grew up in a mid-sized city about an hour away from London (UK) with a thriving music scene. There was limitless opportunities to experience music and (cultural) things. People are sort of told that pursuing a career in performing arts is sort of fanciful, where actually we see in all parts of the world that the performing art sector is a hugely economically important sector full of meaningful jobs. The more we can help people to pursue these jobs, the less likely they are to end up in more consumptive and consummative type jobs. That is a really important point.

- Raphaël Foisy-Couture: Thank you so much for these answers.

- I want to say something about this question, too. I remember in 2017, I was in Montreal, and I had one of my cousins here.  He wanted me to come over and to visit. But I talked to some of my friends. I said, I’m going to leave Montreal to go to Yellowknife. A lot of people, almost all, even me, didn’t know where [it was] exactly. And first thing, I’m a French speaker, but I’m going to try to give my idea in English, but it’s not going to be easy for me (laughing).Talking about music, I think music could be really one thing can help a community like Yellowknife and then to be of value, to be in the spotlight. But I’m asking myself, if the government has a plan to use the musicians, the music industry, to help to really give that value, to put Yellowknife on the front of things. Because if the musicians start talking about Yellowknife, make video clips that value this space, show the land in their videos. These videos could be seen everywhere in the world […] .Music could be something that encourages tourists to come but also help Yellowknife and the Northwestern Territories make the news. I don’t know, but sometimes I feel [that] a lot of people want to help but they don’t want to go on the floor to grab something on the floor, somebody on the floor to help them stand. They’re just waiting until that person tries to stand by himself, and then when he stands [they] go to [them] to say, “okay, now I want to go with it” […] 

- Raphaël Foisy-Couture: I would have another question that I think a lot of people brought up. What tools and support can organizations like mine, but also on a national level, other musical organizations or governmental organizations could do to continue to offer support and to ensure relevance and viability of the music sector and what would be reasonable or what would you consider radical? 

- In terms of government support, the Northwestern Territories feels twenty years behind everybody else. For me one of the biggest struggles I have right now is that it’s very difficult for me to fully sustain a career just in Yellowknife so I do travel a lot. I recognize that I have that privilege but it’s like I can’t really [do otherwise]… I’m doing that at this point in my career to get known in more places and in some cases taking a hit and not even making money by going down to Calgary, or Edmonton, or wherever to do those things. And I approached the government […] about where is the touring support for musicians in the NWT. I don’t really like doing that because it feels pretty entitled, but at the same time, I am already facing these barriers: I am further away in the country than everybody else is; I incur these additional costs; and my other Northern counterparts have way more funding and support to be able to do that. And so I think an organization potentially (like CNMN), and others could be helping us into lobbying the government into saying: “Hey in terms of making this accessible to some pretty talented Northern musicians…”. Like there is so much talent coming out of the NWT right now. Not only in music but also in writing. It’s pretty crazy. It feels like we have so many more barriers to overcome to get to the markets that we need to get to in order to make it on the scene. Whatever which scene you are in. I left a full time teaching career just before COVID.  

- Ouch ! (Laughter from the audience)

- I just have been like slamming against this for, you know, for four years, which I know is nothing compared to many other folks and it’s just to have additional support from other folks who have the resources to do research. (…) And there is some research out there in terms of what you guys are talking about, I can’t remember who it was, […] but they specifically did the impact of indigenous music on like in communities and the economic benefits of it (See the link at the bottom of the page) and I pulled that out and put that in business plans and different things but more solid research on that kind of stuff for maybe northern musicians in general, I think would help folks musicians, to really […| prove our value and worth if we need to justify it in a bottom line, which often we do in terms of funding and government support.

- We always have to (People agreeing).

- It’s not like people are: “oh here go create your art, we expect nothing”. And so lobbying to make that voice stronger, providing research would probably be valuable. 

- There was support for the Northern Performers grant. Which I thought was a great program. […] That’s no more. I don’t know why is that no more. There’s not less money but there’s been a whole transformation of the art funding that we are all still getting to know. Basically it comes down to Small, medium and large asks. Large you have to be a society and it’s a hundred thousand dollars, but it’s not just for an individual to do everything, small is like five thousand dollars, which we could probably all access, but it’s once a year you can get that. And it does not work for somebody who actually needs to go 3–4‑5 times a year to do a tour. Then you are going for Canada Art Council and Factor, which is fine but you are waiting half a year with your fingers crossed that this will come through or you going to have to go into debt to go on this tour. It’s hard.

-  And they are not super accessible (the grants). This might sounds weird but I think about myself as a pretty educated person, having the support of my entrepreneur settler dad also who helps me navigate the colonial system of applying for grants and for all of those things. I see many talented folks who just can’t navigate that system. I am here slamming my head against the wall and I have a lot of ressources behind me. It’s just sad to see really talented people not being able to get (the grant). I think maybe we do a better job of that in Yellowknife but I think communities get forgotten.

-  I’m going to use a swear word and I am sorry and I apologized in front of everybody but: “What about having a manager ?”. Who does that kind of paperwork and slugging, and digging and so forth for you?

-  I’ve been trying to find a manager for 4 years now! […] In the north… Before a manager is going to take you on, they want to be assured that you are going to bring enough money to give them their 10 to 15% percent. You have to prove that on your own first. With help and connections I tried to go after big names, and small names too. They give me advices.  The advices: I need to get my social media profiles up. — Which I hate! That’s not how I want to interact with the world. — And to be essentially more well know. There has to be a stepping stone and we don’t have that stepping stone right now. And that’s what I think organizations can do, to advocate for that stepping stone.

-  That works yeah.

(Participants are discussing about their specific experiences in applying to smaller project based grant in NWT)

- My experience is good. For example, If you want to make a new album you apply. It’s between 15,000 to 20,000$ to make an album now. Which I don’t think that’s high end at all, I really don’t. If you get it they [usually] give you half of that typically. Which is super frustrating. I get it, I talked to the folks and they do that because they want more money to go around to more people which is fair and fine. But then as a musician you have to go around and try and find other folks who are willing to invest in that. And that’s the job of a musician I guess. And so I think there is support for smaller projects, which I think we’ve been good at in a bunch of sectors actually. Like [the] film sector is pretty decent with providing professional development to beginners and making that accessible. But it’s a certain stage that you get to[…] |There’s just so many roadblock into getting the access and into getting down south. So you go away and I don’t particularly want to spend as much time away as I do… but I need to. And that’s hard. And I don’t have kids. Besides my love of Yellowknife and my home, I don’t have as many things tying me down as many people do, so I actually have less barriers than I think a lot of people do.

- I think the flip side of this coin is how as artists do we make our way into the larger southern market but as far as the sustainability question, there is how do we, again, get more artists up here to inspire creation up here? So we can open for people, we can do that. I’m just putting this on record, I know I’ve probably had this conversation with many people in this room. We face a real problem in Yellowknife specifically of not having a performance specific venue other than NACC (The Northern Arts and Cultural Centre) which is tailored to be a very specific type of artistic experience. Which is awesome, let the record show they’re awesome. But there’s no standing room, let’s dance, let’s have fun for genres that are not for this (kind of setup).

-  Especially if you are under 19 (people agreeing). I remember witnessing the most ridiculous thing. A band here had a drummer joining them. The drummer was seventeen, and the drummer had to be escorted to the stage by the security guard. The security guard waited by the stage to the end of the set and then escorted the poor little guy out. It is a huge thing for me. People who are looking at careers into performing arts, they have nothing in those formative years between say 14 and 19. Those were the years where I developed into the level of playing touring circuits and supporting big bands and things like that. That’s a huge, huge thing to get that experience. That’s when you are exposed to the industry, you see how it works, you see how shows are organized, you meet tour managers, merchandise people, other musicians, all that kind of stuff. There’s nothing for young people like that here, except Folk on the Rocks and it really comes down to, I think, the lack of physical spaces. But I might be hugely biased in this regard.

-  It’s also a time when it’s more acceptable to fail when you are young. 

- Absolutely

-  Now I’m coming in at thirty something and I’m learning all this stuff and people are expecting more perfection but it’s like how the hell should I know how to do this because I have not done it like this before.

-  It’s where the accessible independent venues need to come in. There was a pub in my hometown where we would play. When my band was all fourteen. It was 2 bucks a ticket, you kept a buck for every ticket you sold and then they would make their money from the bars and other things but the  entry was non-existent. We f***ing sucked (everyone is laughing) but we would bring in like 50 high school kids to come and have a great time and in the process of doing that you [learn so much|. We were a metal band we, supported Napalm Death. That was a huge experience! You get to see the professional bands, it’s such an important growth experience.

- I would say that we have this coin with the different side, the way larger art organizations could potentially help support more artists coming here and more artists going down south is with more [venue support].  But before we can actually set some kind of exchange program we do need more physical space. With the end goals, to create a more sustainable music community, one of these means would be having very well pre-established exchanges. Artists in residence exchanges where we can send people from here down south and in exchange we can bring southern artists up. I think there would be such value in doing that and having art larger organizations like CCA (Canadian Council for the Arts) or CNMN helping in creating the infrastructures to do these kinds of exchanges.

- Speaking directly to that, one of the things I found the most valuable in this idea of building relationships down south and within the community is an expectation of being integrated into the community; being humble; and coming back. And so If I look at the people here who have come back multiple times, I’ve told them: “I’m not letting you go”, but the idea of people coming in and going away once it’s great and it brings this little bolt of energy, but that’s not sustainable. So, If you are going to start building relationships with people, I feel that one of the strongest things you can do from the start is saying how long are you in this for. Are you in this one time ? And if you are, what is the value in that ? There might be huge value, but I think there’s longer value and deeper value in more staying power; in building things where people come back, or you go there. Then it builds and builds and builds.

-  I also think that anecdotally there’s that attraction right ? I think about Desirée Dawson who came up for a residency in Folk [on the the rocks], she since, on her own dime came up two more times because she enjoys this place which I think is pretty cool. There’s a precedent to suggest that actually, once people are out there they are like: “oh we could come back again…”.

-  That’s something we can all do as well, we should have a little informal organization who just showers visiting musicians with love.

(Everybody’s laughing)

- Everyone is so nice here

- We do a great job of that!  

(Audience agreeing)

- Carmen Braden: I mean just with the people here. There is already a lot of Edmonton connections here. We just had four Edmontonians who came up.  People go to school there. You guys hang out in Edmonton, you’re like the classical cover band (jokingly talking about the Garneau String Quartet). I call the TSO that (audience Laughing). For me this is a little seed that can grow roots.

-  I think artists […] [we do] a pretty good job of bringing northern artists up through different residencies, but also having northern artists go down into the other ones… Just being part of the Folk on the Rocks residencies, like Mo Kenney came up here, we did shows; same program as Désirée Dawson, and I was like: “this is cool and I am really happy to meet someone and collaborate and do all those things, but it would be cool if I could also go there.. The funding is not set up to do that, and that would be true reciprocity I think. There’s a big draw to Yellowknife for sure because it’s remote, it’s this part of Canada that a lot of people don’t know, and we are really successful in doing that. But I think in terms of that reciprocity, that also is important that we are putting our musicians out into the rest of Canada as well.

- I feel that musicians from Yellowknife, the Northwest Territories, and the North in general, have always such a uniqueness to the art that they create, thinking of Leela Gilday and Miranda Currie and a lot of people who started in the north, stayed in the north, we just have a little bit of a different approach to music and also just through the connection to the North. I feel like sending you South to go talk to southern musicians and interact with people would be very valuable to us and also for them because it’s a very unique point of view that we have.

This part of the discussion was moderated by Rob Elo who shared his experience in participating in the Canadian Music Incubator

-Rob Elo: I went down to do the Canadian Music Incubator program which is in Toronto, and that’s where I applied to do this program where they take musicians from all over the country and basically, it’s a five week long business course about how to be a musician in the modern world, how to kind of explore all the avenues that you can make money with; and learn about all the different types of people, producers, engineers, co-writers, performance coaches, videographers and everybody that you need to work with. How to work with these people and learn who they are, or at least who they are in the Torontonian community. And that was a really cool experience to go down there and do that and everyone in this program […], started about twelve years ago, with this guy who is a previous Sony Exec who was like: “I want to help young musicians I want to give […]”.

- I did the program too. I was in Calgary last year.

- Rob Elo: I wanna ask how [it went for you]. The way I felt about it, I felt like it was great and that everyone there, they really wanted to genuinely help. We are very far from where they are, it was really helpful for me to get in. Did you go ?

- Yes I went to Calgary, to Bell Studio for five weeks.

- Rob Elo: Oh right on! You should totally talk about that too! My experience taught me so much about rights and royalties that I can get; It gave me a lot of ressources for actual contents. I filmed live performances videos, I did photoshoot, I did collaborative writing sessions with people. Made a lot of connections. And everyone in the program was basically like, just call anytime […] everyone seemed really excited about Yellowknife. That was the thing when, when I was like, I’m from Yellowknife. I’m a poser. (Everyone laughing) I’m not like the rest of you but now I’m making Yellowknife my home, and I’m so excited to be here and working with everyone. But I just got here, like, a couple of years ago. So, I mean, some of you are true yellowknifers. Who can I think the rest of Canada is just so excited about whenever you mention Yellowknife. “Oh my god!”. I’m working with this producer, and he’s like, “so where are you from exactly?“, and I showed him on the map where’s Yellowknife. He’s like, “holy crap!” (Audience laughing). But I found that… and I’d love to get just everyone, especially, yeah, if people have done the program, could we use something like that here? The nice thing about the program was it gave you, all these information on rights and royalties, all these connections, lists of people, list of grants you could apply for, or what people […] who are deep in the industry, who work with the Juno Awards and who are affiliated with… They’re in everything, and again, traveling to places all over the country to do these types of workshops. Not Yellowknife yet, but maybe…  It was all kind of condensed, and you’ve got a folder of, here’s all the contacts, here are the grants. Here’s all the organizations. Here’s a plan that you can follow, where you can take what you choose, your direction. Because as musicians, I find that it’s it’s not like: “and this is what you do? Oh, you want to be a musician. Okay? It’s like, this. Like that.”  No! It can be crazy. It can be whatever, and it can change at any time, depending on what you want and depending on the situation you’re in. And I feel they understood that. You’ve got one on one sit downs with people who are like: “Okay, here’s what you want to do. Okay, here are the people you want to meet”.

-  Quick question, you are asking directly if it would make sense to invite this same organization? To host a Yellowknife like week?

- Rob Elo: yeah

- Do you, from your experience of what you experienced there, going back to this question of infrastructure, do you think the program can run with the current infrastructure that’s in Yellowknife?

- Rob Elo:  I think a version of it can, yeah,[…] I think everything you’re saying, we need more venues. We need more support for venues and to have that sort of vibrancy that a city should have, and where you can go to lots of places. And yes, there’s an awesome coffee shop where they have folk music every week. And yes, there’s a bar type atmosphere. And yes, there’s an all ages venue where kids who are interested in whatever type of music they are interested in can host their own shows , and can have their friends come out and don’t get escorted out by security. The thing about the Canadian Music incubator at first, I came in at quite a cool time, because they used to be outside of Toronto in this kind of enclosed space where they were doing everything in house. And so this was the ten years before I started the program. I came in the twelfth year, and for ten years they were outside of the city doing everything. Had a recording studio in there. They had conference rooms and writing rooms and all this stuff. So they brought everybody in, and they could do all this stuff in there, and that was great. But one of the things that I got out of the program the most was that they moved it to right downtown. Their central office, they didn’t have all that set up yet. So one of the things that we all had to do was travel all over the town to different places that would host these things. We went into local music studios, and we worked with local producers. We went to venues to do my live video. We went to a venue that had live shows all the time, and they were also set up to do a live video recording… And so you not only got the experience of working with all these people and doing all these things. You got in the city. And I think it could be valuable to be: “This is what Yellowknife is!”. Obviously under constant improvement, hopefully getting new venues and new places to do that. But if a program like that came up, maybe we could host it in different places, in Yellowknife, and have local musicians, young, anywhere in our musical careers, doing things at different places and seeing how it could work. Does anyone have any opinions on that?

- Someone actually had one, like with CMI (Canadian Music incubator), four years ago, that was like a two day workshop, didn’t you? Didn’t we? I have a picture… (People laughing)

-  The thing that I appreciate about that was that there were people there who were familiar with Northern realities, right? And then there are people there who are familiar with, and very skilled about, Canadian music industry business and royalties and all of those things. And I think that obviously […] on my mind is touring, okay ? Like this is on my mind, I admit maybe no one else cares about it (People laughing).They provided […] “you can go to FACTOR and you can do this, and you can do that”. Okay, if I want to go to Calgary communities, and this is how you would do it. But, if I want to do a northern tour in NWT, the logistics and the like, whatever, of doing that, it’s almost impossible, unless you partner with NACC. […] Having a hybrid, kind of of CMI, and then folks who really […] pull a lot of knowledge around, you know, grants and funding. […]  And so doing a hybrid of “here’s the music industry.”. But then here’s the northern realities that I think don’t get addressed when we go to southern things. 

- Sure, yeah.

- So you’re talking when you say touring, you’re talking specifically about Northern touring or about going [South]. Both, yeah? 

- I would love to do a northern schools tour, for example, in all the different communities, because I think the music that I make for kids is, you know… It’s a northern indigenous music specifically. Why would I not want to bring this message to school kids, right? And then, also bringing that to [reservations] and different places down south and not. I’d also like to play soft seat theaters. I’d also like to play… I want to know about the gamut of that […] how to actually make that happen without a booking agent, because I can’t get one.

- Sure, sure.

-  Well, yeah, I almost feel like, like […], even seeing everyone here now, we could almost have the resources to make a pool. Pool the resources together. Because I know some people here know about the northern…  I certainly, [people] have been amazing as always, sharing information about the grants that we can apply for, what they’re for. […] You have a lot of information about this, about the different places around Yellowknife, where they can host performances like that. Some folks have that information. It’d be nice to have… CMI had all this in a nice little package. And we don’t necessarily need CMI to do that for us, but if we could somehow rally the troops and have kind of this, this accessible thing, you know, maybe in the form of a program.

- I think the hybrid is […] yeah, both of those things are cool

- What was the name of that program?

- Rob Elo: Canadian Music incubator

- Canadian music, egg that you hatch from, they hatch new music. 

- Rob Elo: That’s right, yeah (Audience laughing). I feel that. I don’t feel that I fully hatched yet, do you have any experiences you had of the program?

- I was super stoked to get into it […]. When I went, I was like: “Okay, this is the ticket. This is the connections that I need to do, the things that I need to do in order to get where I want to get.” […] I put a lot of weight in it.  

- Yeah.

- it’s a great program […] and I did make a lot of connections. I think the thing that I came away with was, I had a little bit of like a midlife crisis after I got back from it to tell you the truth, because […] the folks who were in that program, they map out very clearly this certain pathway to success and my pathway […]  looks a lot different than what they mapped out as the pathway to success. And, I mean, that’s just me as a person. I just like doing hard things. (Everyone is laughing).

-  That is true. They definitely like, you know, they’re like “social media!”. So if you weren’t into social media…

-   I did after going there, I was on Facebook, and I hired a media person afterwards, and now I’m on TikTok and Instagram […]. We created content on a calendar, putting it out every week, we were able to create that content six months in advance. So they taught me a lot of skills that way. […] and it’s up to me to keep that going, which I don’t really. […] I’m just gonna be really honest, because I think it’s important, and I think we all have these thoughts. I was like, “Wow! I’m just not as good as most of those other people in the program […], they really have some talent!” […] they also, […]  most of the people I felt, looked a certain way to be really marketable down there. And, I don’t look like that. That’s not me. And I came away feeling like: “Oh, my God, am I like, Am I doing the right thing, right?”.  And I think we all have that, which is why I just want to share that. We all have doubts somewhere there. 

- Totally.

-  And then […] I’ve just felt like my voice wasn’t good enough. I didn’t look the right way, and my social media sucked. That’s what I came out of that program knowing. But it was, really awesome, because no one else would have told me that.  

-  Yeah, right. (Everyone is laughing)

-  And so then, last summer, I spent the summer in Vancouver taking private voice lessons from a teacher down there. […] You know: “Okay, I’m gonna improve my voice”. And I went and […] I have been learning more about social media, and I still suck at it. I would hire that out.

-  Totally

-  100%

 —  I’ve spent the winter writing two albums, like a new [album for] kids and a new [album for] adults, this thing […] talking to people from that program, yeah, was really helpful. And being like: “hey, what do you think of this”. And having a real critique, an artistic critique of people’s work is really valuable as well. And you don’t need to go to that program to do that, but it did. It brought me down to build me back up.

- Rob Elo: Yeah. I felt the same, yeah. And I feel like […], this, you know, talk, or whatever, talking to all of you. I was like: “okay, I kind of structured it out”. And, of course, it’s nothing like what I thought, but I think that a big theme of that was kind of musical direction and feeling. That’s why I took the program to begin with, I was like: “okay, what’s my direction?”.  I spent so much time playing in bands, playing with other people, being a part of a group, which I love, and I still do that, and it’s like the best thing ever, but I really wanted to have that musical direction for myself. To feel like I was taking the reins a bit, and I didn’t know exactly how to do that, and this, this was almost an alternative to formal education, which is still totally awesome and great. But it was like, something […] “okay, you want to be a musician and try some sort of alternative, writing your own music that’s like, pop or rock centric and doing that…”. So that was cool, but it definitely took me to that same place where I went. “Oh…” […]  It was great, because everyone in the program was kind of in that space, like a lot. Some people were amazing. Some people I was : “Oh, my God, you’re so good!”. And then other people […] maybe I didn’t vibe with their music as much, but everyone had that feeling of: “What are we? Which way are we going?”. And I feel everyone had a reckoning of sorts. Mine was in performance, and that’s why it’s so cool […] because I realized I play cover songs a lot, and I play in bands a lot. I love the music that I play in bands, and I love playing cover music and grooving and stuff like that. And I realized because we had several performances that we had to do, which I think is a great thing for anyone to do, we had performances that we had to do in front of the whole team. We had the live performance video, we did a mock showcase performance at the end, where everyone did a set. And I realized that just me as a solo performing. I’ve been doing background music for so long[…]. I don’t know how it feels to just be me doing, putting on a show. And I realized I didn’t like my music the way I played it, [the way] I was playing it for people. […] It was my own epiphany. And I was like: “Oh my God!”. It was a performance coach who kind of told me that […] you have to find what you really enjoy, and then that can translate to people[…]. The program kind of helped me notice where, whether it was by what they told me, what I had to figure out of my own. […] Just so much immersion with all these musicians, all these different people, what I needed to work on, what and where I wanted to go […] and I felt despair in some ways, but it was good. it has been leading to…

-  To the Canadian Music incubator and despair! (Everyone is laughing)

- Exactly, incubator of despair!

(people laughing)

-  I think, if I were to offer something to folks in the group, is that this came out of that for me too. […] I worked with [several people] quite a bit to really hone what I wanted my music to be and come up […] I thought of this, like, a thesis statement.  because I do kids stuff and I do adult stuff, right? […] The example for me: “Oh, I create authentic northern indigenous content that is accessible to children and families” […] and trying to tell people, what kind of music do you play, right? That’s always really hard. But if you can have something solid and succinct around that; it takes a lot of background work to go into yourself as a musician and be like: “What am I about? What do I want to be about?”. And then have that line. I think if every person in this room came up with that, we’d all be better musicians.

-  Yeah, Yeah.

- Rob Elo: […] I picked up a lot of things from the program, but the different rights organizations that you can register your original music with, and all the different sources of funding that can come in, [it’s] really important now, to memorize them (Jokingly). Everyone has heard of SOCAN, right?

-  Not everyone. 

- Rob Elo: Okay, so, SOCAN is this organization where you can put your music, you can register your music there and get royalties from them. Get quarterly payments for every time your music is played. […] you can get paid when it’s played and streamed in ways that you know, not just your publisher, your music publisher will give you. But basically, Canadian Music incubator hammered in for me that every time I would always forget to register with SOCAN. […] I played in lots of bands when I was growing up, and we never had SOCAN accounts.[…] We were just like: “that’s a mysterious kind of thing that I don’t want to be concerned about…”. But you can go to SOCAN website, you can sign yourself up, and anything you’ve written, anything you’ve been a part of with other bands, you can put all your all your music on there, and then anytime that music is played or used, you’re going to get paid for it.  And one of the things they kind of hammered home about that, is you never know when these things are going to come up, where your music might be used or might be played, and if you’re not set up properly, then it’s gonna bite you when you don’t get paid. […] One of the things I don’t know is, does anyone else here play in projects like bands, […] scenarios where there’s splits going on ? […] Who gets what?

- Yeah, I think that’s one of the big things that, whether it’s about working with bands or playing in the band, is that that discussion happens as early as possible for transparency. Because if something is bringing in a fair amount of money, you want to make sure that everyone knows who is going to get what and you’re not trying to figure that out at the wrong time. 

- Rob Elo: Yes, exactly. That’s definitely, again, talking about what was said, I realized that. And now I’m doing my own solo stuff, and so I’m gearing up to every bit of music I release, I’m going to register it with all these places that I’ll talk further about. But from bands I’ve been in that have gotten plays in various areas, I’m going: “Ah! We never talked about that!”. And so it’s great to always talk about the splits of things. One of the things that struck me when I was doing my interview for CMI and the program, because they call me: “Hey, you’re one of the applicants we’re considering. Can we talk to you more about what you do and how you’d be suited for this.” And they ask you a bunch of questions and one is: “What are the rights you’re entitled to. Do you know about that stuff?”. I know about Socan for some reason, but that’s about it. You can sign up for SOCAN for your songwriting credits but you can also sign up for your publishing rights as well and that’s a different process to sign up for this. So those are the songwriting rights that you have. 

On the other side, you have your recordings, so you can register the recordings of your music, the mechanical piece every time your song is played on radio […]. Whenever they [CMI] talk about your music being played, they talk about it as a performance, which I thought was interesting, because you only think of live performance, but it’s actually a performance digitally, too. […] And there’s also the Masters side, how your recording is financed. That’s another area of your rights.

So I found it really fascinating learning about all these things. I have a to do list now for all my music, and you kind of just have to. It does make you feel, […] when you have this list of where you can register all your music, to get all your different rights, it does feel like you’re making progress. Because, […] you have your bases covered. When you’re doing these steps, these actual, […] concrete steps to making sure that, on the back end, your music is actually going to be making you money, and that you’ll be ready if your music suddenly gets picked up by [somebody] in some way. And if you start getting a lot of plays, you’ll be ready to receive those royalties. 

- Just on that very same topic. I interject here, I wish to brag a wee little bit, because of SOCAN, I make about $100 a year from SOCAN. Somebody somewhere, I don’t know who or where, is playing my music. […] It’s gonna have to be radio, because I don’t have any videos or whatever. So it’s going to be radio, but somewhere in the world, and that’s been in Newfoundland, and it’s been in Nova Scotia, and it’s been in New Zealand, and it’s been in Poland, and various places around the world that have played me somehow, So SOCAN found out that my music has been played. Now $100 a year is going to buy you a box of beer or something, right? But it’s better than absolutely nothing, and it means that somebody somewhere out there is playing or listening to your music. So if you haven’t done it already, you know, get on there. It’s my advice for what it’s worth,

-  I don’t think you said it explicitly, but the other side of songwriting is, if you’re not a songwriter, but you’re a musician in a recording of an album, which can happen for a lot of people. That’s other royalties you can collect. It’s almost like you’re double dipping, if you’re a songwriter and you’re playing on the album, singing… 

- Exactly. 

- Those are different pots of money you can access.

- Rob Elo: Exactly. Yeah, that’s right. And everyone who’s on recording [might be] deserving of rights. So yeah that’s the interesting thing. When you’re […] a sole proprietor, essentially, when it’s your music and you’re making recordings and you’re doing all this, you have access to all those rights. If you have a record company and they own your masters or whatever, you know you’re not necessarily collecting rights. They are collecting the royalties for a particular portion. Another thing I want to talk about is sync licensing and getting your music in shows and in movies and things like that. […] Have any of you had your music in movies ?

(Some of the participants are nodding)

Yeah, that’s so cool! I’d love to hear about that experience, because what I’ve heard and learned from CMI and from other friends of mine who’ve had this happen is that a lot of the time for sync licensing… And they call it syncing because you’re synchronizing your music to video[…]  but it’ll be kind of on a dime, where if you have a version of your song, you should have it instrumental too. If there are vocals, you should have these versions ready to go, because if a TV show or a movie wants to choose your music. They’re going to be saying: “Hey, we want to submit it. We want to use this and get it going, like, tomorrow. So can you give me the wav files? Can you give me the mp3 files and all the files that we need?”. So, if you don’t have your music prepared and organized like: “Okay, here’s the instrumental version, here’s the clean version, here’s all this stuff.” You’re going to miss an opportunity. Has anyone had that experience?

-  I’ve kind of had the opposite [experience] in terms of relationship building and knowing… Because some projects start off as friends: “Oh, we’ll just do this, this and this, and it’s not formal.” . But I think I do need to learn a lot more about this, because some songs that I’ve made have ended up on shows and I had no idea because of the relationship part of who I’ve lent or let someone else hold my own music. So it’s the paperwork… I’ve learned friends are not just friends, you know, right? 

- So, did you sign, sign off on your music so somebody else could control that and give it…

- No, no, they just did. It was a small town, old high school friends, and probably should have got that on paper.

-  Strictly speaking, although this isn’t much help, you own the copyright to a song. As soon as you write it, you don’t have to apply for it. You don’t have to sign it up in any way. Simply by writing it, you own it. All you have to do is be able to prove that at the right time.  Be that as it may, it’s definitely, definitely something that should show up if you’re going to record a CD or whatever, and you’re going to write it down: “This song is by John Smith, SOCAN, or John Smith publishing company”.. That sort of thing is worth doing. You know, no matter how much you trust your friends and so forth, it’s always very worthwhile to make sure that your name is on it somehow, somewhere. 

- Well, when you’re in your early 20s and you don’t know. I didn’t even realize that SOCAN was a thing, or that you can sign up for these things.

- Well, that’s the thing. I’m sorry. I remember thinking this when I was taking the program and I’m in my 30s. I was like: “Oh, my God, I would have loved this when I was 20 something!”. Getting started with, keep all your files, organize your rights when your song is written, have it in that folder that’s “this is the original version of the recording” in addition to signing up for SOCAN and registering it. That’s something that should always be done.

- I think with SOCAN, and I think with MROC (Musicians’ Rights Organization Canada) too, it can be set up so that when you put in your information, there’s a retroactive piece, yeah? I don’t know how far back it’s going right now. 

-  I did it, and it goes, it goes back, like, I think a year or two…

-  They used to go back like just a few years ago. They go back into the 90s. 

- Oh, my god, yeah?

- I think so. 

- Another interesting piece that I found out through CMI also was that they found me surprise money, which was really awesome! [People laughing]. So in terms of performances I’ve played for, say, folk on the rocks, for example. Every set list that is played is registered to SOCAN, and then SOCAN pays out that performance that you made. So major festivals, venues, maybe it’s not the bar down the road who does that. But I would say probably most soft seat theaters would do that and so when went back and looked for those performances, there was like, seven of them for me, and they were like: “Oh, you get, like — I think, you know, not much — maybe 250 or 300 bucks payout!”. or something like that.  But if you’re not even registered, they might have still registered your songs for you. So when you join SOCAN, you may have some performances sitting there that haven’t had royalties claimed on. That’s right and you can upload setlists.

- Carmen Braden: Okay so Longshadow moment here. As the host of Longshadow, I have a responsibility, I know so you and you and you (jokingly pointing musicians around the room)We’ve got some work to do still, because I don’t know what set, what the names of your songs are from your set. You either have to send that to SOCAN, or you have to tell me, and I have to send it to SOCAN. And there’s always been, for me as a composer, this: “No, it’s your job. No, it’s your job!”. Who’s actually responsible? So maybe the Garneau could even pitch in here. When you guys do a concert, do you register your set list with SOCAN? Or do you trust the venue to, or do you expect the composer to know when you play your works? […] 

- Well, that’s why it’s probably our responsibility as artists. 

- Carmen Braden: It’s a bit of a shared one too. […] Hold each other accountable. So like, if you play somewhere, you should ask them, like, who’s registering this with SOCAN? Did you buy the license for it? […] My code of conduct is that I’ve tried to, like, up the business game for what I’m doing in Yellowknife, and make it a little less [about] my friends. We can be friends, but we’re working together, and when and if it goes sour, we’re gonna be professional. So, we keep each other accountable, and that’s what I think I need a little more of in this town too, is like other people learning about this and holding each other to account, so I don’t miss three years of registering people’s songs. I should do it tomorrow, but I’m gonna be tired (everyone is laughing). I’m curious, Garneau, what do you guys do when you go and play?

- We generally just trust that the venues are doing it right.

- And it depends very much on which music that we play. 

- Why would it depend? 

- Well, Mozart’s family’s not getting paid out. (Everybody is laughing)

- But it’s a good point. I think we should let the composers know every time we perform their music, because I think you have to be a member of SOCAN to…

- And you have to have your song registered, yes? So if you just wrote a new song yesterday, and it’s not registered and say it’s on the set list, you haven’t registered it. You’re not going to get money for it.

- No but it’s retroactive.

- They’re expecting the members to do the work. So for us, we can tell the composers that we’re performing. 

- That’s always really appreciated.

- That’s a good point, because we don’t alway have the reflex of doing that. 

- No, I don’t think about this all the time.

- Normally, it would be connected to the actual sheet music process, right? 

- Officially, my understanding is it’s the responsibility of the venue. It can be us that kind of follows up with them and just checks in if it’s a venue that we think might not have things up to date, but it’s the venue’s responsibility

-  But they might not want to pay that licensing 

- Exactly! 

- Then you get into some awkward conversations there.

- I was programming  for a concert that I did in May. And we played a Dutch piece by a Dutch composer who has passed away, but not that long ago. So I bought the music, and I had to buy a license with the sheet music for a performance on that date. So the music that I downloaded said at the bottom: “licensed to be performed on May so and so…”, and I happened to be the great granddaughter of this composer. So then my family kept like, you know, three euros for that performance.

- (Jokingly) Reason to celebrate right ? 

(Everybody laughs)

- Carmen Braden: We have only like, 10 more minutes left, and I kind of don’t really want our awesome conversation to end on royalties. Could I ask maybe some of the collaborators in the room just to talk about what that process has been like during the Longshadow festival. So either the songwriters, composers, arrangers or the performers. Just in that idea of relationship building and sustainability, how what you’ve done here resonates? What are you maybe going to take away from this time?

•  I split my time between Edmonton and Yellowknife, mostly in Yellowknife now, and I am very grateful to have four new friends in Edmonton. Of course, the artists that I got to work with this weekend as well. It’s a small town, and maybe I’ve seen your faces before, but now I feel like I know these people. It’s a pretty intimate connection to work on your song for a week, and I just sit there and listen to your voice over and over and over again (people are laughing). It’s not a bad thing at all. It’s a really wonderful thing, but, you know, I had to just listen to your song that many times. So that’s a unique experience for me to be able to really immerse myself with these artists for a chunk of time, and then I’ll walk away from that song for a little while, and I’ll listen to it enough that it gets stuck in my head. Because then, usually when it’s stuck in my head and I’m singing in the shower, that’s when the other lines start to emerge. “Oh, okay, that’ll be cool in the high register of the viola!” because, it’s more nasally and I sound nasally in the shower, (everyone is laughing) and it’s this whole wild ride. A lot of people ask me through the process, how long does it take to write a song? 

•  I asked you that 17 times I think.

• And I was like I don’t know. I could probably smash one out in eight hours if we had to, but ideally it’s eight hours over, like 16 small chunks of time. Where I can spend some time in between letting things steep and ferment and change. Anyway, my takeaway is that overall I’m grateful to really get to meet some people on a personal level through the music. So thanks for having me along for that.

•  Yeah, It’s just such an amazing experience. I was just overwhelmed gratefulness for you arranging the songs, for Carmen putting this together, and all of you in the string quartet for doing it. One of my favorite moments was when we had played it a couple of times, and at first it was like, you know, me and a string quartet playing the thing along to it, and then as we played it and listened to each other, and then got ideas and made several tweaks. I got a feel for when things were happening and playing over the piano in the second verse and everything. It was just like,“whoa!”. That was really when you got the cello line of the rhythm that I had in the left hand, […] that’s so that’s so great. Yeah, it was just such an amazing feeling. It’s one of those, again, I was feeling stagnant in playing my own music and this was definitely a remedy. Like, “Oh, this can be great, yeah?”. Just a thrilling experience that makes me see my music in a different light. 

• Yeah, that was so amazing. I don’t know if all the artists that collaborated with the audio got the same feeling as me. I remember 2013, 2014 I used to play in a band in Brazil. It’s not the same thing when you just have a guitar or keyboard and you play in solo, but when you play with a full band. For me, I feel you breathe really nice, and then you feel the envelope, […] it gives you that confidence. […]You feel you’re in a different world. But that is the feeling I get, you know, that was so amazing. That’s why I can’t wait to play with a band. […] That was so nice guys and you did a good job, and then to arrange the music. […] And then that was so nice and thank you, Thank you!

• I feel like it was a very meaningful collaboration for all of us. The four of us, we play in the Edmonton Symphony as well. And I feel like… Oh, now I’ve painted myself into a corner.I guess. (Everybody laughs) I just think the ideal when people get together and play music together, is that they go in with open hearts and listen and are open to one another. And I think when we all leave, we’re all a little bit richer in having had the experience. So that’s what it felt like to me. It was really great. And sometimes not, not all the time does it feel that way, but certainly with the Quartet and with all of you, is just yeah, that’s, that’s kind of what I take away from it, is just meaningful…

• (Abruptly asking) Did you have fun? 

• Yeah, we had a lot of fun. 

• There you go! You win! You win! 

• Yeah!

• I would like to add to that 100 years ago, when I was a professional musician, I did get a few gigs with the Edmonton symphony, and the level of playing is amazing, but the experience is a bit scary. You’re just scared of making a mistake, and the amateur music I’ve done here at a much lower level is just done for the sheer love of music. So you’re kind of free from having to pay your rent from playing music. And those experiences, they’re better. You know, you’re not playing at the same level as you did at a professional level, but the right spirit is there, and you’re just doing it because you love music, and I think it’s challenging in your occupation to keep that love in doing what you do. 

• I can assure you we make lots of mistakes. 

• (Everybody’s laughing)

• Yes, I just want to add to that too. I mean, discussion here has been, you know, supporting musicians at a professional level, but we’ve got people here that came through the music education system in the territories, and right now, we’ve changed music curriculum, and it’s at a kind of a precarious situation as to whether music education in the schools is going to be done to the same level, and unless you’ve got music education in the schools, then you’re not going to have the people around here. I’m part of the music teachers association […] I’m trying to get to the schools, so that we really do have professional music being taught in schools. And it also reminds me of a couple of things. One is that they can also teach, you know, at the higher levels, that there are these career aspects to it;  there is a business aspect to being a musician, as well as a citizenship aspect. And that whole thing of how important it is, of listening, of cooperating with others, of having an open heart, of creativity. I mean, aren’t those things so important for kids, right? And that starts at the school level, and then kids join bands with their classmates and go on to take music in university and things like that.

•  But there’s another area of advocacy for an organization like yours, right at the education right at grade six, grade seven, get an instrument in their hands.

• Grade One and two get an Instrument in their hands, grade one and two!

•  I think that the thing I’m hearing is, I’ve been lucky to have the shared experience of creating music with others and there’s nothing like it in life. I think every child should have that opportunity to do it. And I think that that sort of grassroots from the very bottom up is […]. My hypothesis now is that it’s something that music NWT can support. And from, thinking back to your government question, like, how can the government support this? The ideas that have come out here, like spaces, performance spaces, rehearsal spaces. The infrastructure is not yet in place, but I think there is a tremendous opportunity, because of the skill and the talent and the authenticity of the artists here, that Yellowknife could be, or could aim to have a brand of music and a vibrant music scene that is attracting people from around the world. 

There’s a research project about Northern and remote communities around the economic benefit of music. Reykjavik, Dawson City, you know, like there are places that have done this before. You know, the quintessential example is Nashville. Like, everyone knows what Nashville means, right? It’s like it’s a mecca for musicians. So I wonder, from a government point of view, it’s one thing to give out grants for, you know, more developed performers to go down south, but like there is I think the larger opportunity  to create a place where people can come and everyone who I’ve [met], who have traveled from elsewhere to come here and play, have this feeling of, “Wow, this is a special place…. And there are special touring opportunities here. The snowcastle Festival, I think, is unique in the world, and that anyone who’s come through there is like, “Wow, holy sh*t. This is incredible!” . And so developing those opportunities for performance spaces and rehearsal spaces, like people are renting storage lockers here to rehearse, that’s insane. So I think from a government point of view, if I was sitting in government or you’re the mayor, Premier, the Prime Minister… They have a responsibility to develop culture, because there is economic benefit, I think that’s clear. 

But also they’re in a position to influence corporate culture, the enterprise, the business community, who are extracting resources from this country and not giving anything back. So if I were in the government’s position, I would have policies in place, not only to have them mandated to support arts because of all the benefits. Not just the artistic merit of kids, but the transferable skills that you develop learning how to play an instrument. I don’t know any other way of doing that matter. And so, back to the sustainability piece, like, why are corporations not putting money forward to help touring be more sustainable, from a carbon impact point of view? There are mining companies here with millions and millions of dollars. I don’t see any of their logos on any of our projects here. That is sort of the collective action that  if I think about Yellowknife here, like, yeah, we don’t have that much industry, we don’t have that much business. But if we were to expand this conversation across the country, every arts musician or organization is like: “no, we’re not going to f*cking do arts and culture unless you put in your part here.”. Like, there’s an impact to doing this. There’s an impact for our country and our society as a whole.  That is the aspect of this world we live in that is not contributing. They’re not putting in their fair part. So that’s what I would say to political powers if I had the opportunity.  And hopefully on the record here, this will be read by every single one of them.

- I also want to add on to that, this idea that if we were to develop and really have an end goal of  creating Yellowknife as, like, a sort of musical mecca, like a Dawson City or a Sackville or, these places in Canada, there seems to be that attraction to go and make music in these kinds of more rural place. One of the things that I have to say is,  there needs to be that collaboration and that attention and that focus with connecting to the Dene and Inuit people and Métis.  Because I know that so many people who are coming up, they say: “wow, this culture is so much more alive here than anywhere else in Canada!”. And, if there is to be that end goal, that needs to be explicitly put in. […] That needs to be so explicitly written into the end goal because not only is it important on an ethical standpoint, it’s as far as a branding thing, it’s something that’s unique. And the same way that I’ve heard so many artists come up here, just Indigenous, non-Indigenous artists come here and say, what a special place. I’ve heard so many Indigenous people come up here from other nations and be like, “holy sh*t, like, what is happening here?”. And I think we can’t lose that in the process if we are to make or build that.

- I have something about this. But I think there is something, when you’re talking about the music, I think music could be one thing. […] it could be one thing and then could unite a lot of people around it. I think we can use that and then to develop our music here. That is not to focus on just one culture, but we can mix everything together.  And then to show music could reunite people together. […] I’m someone who doesn’t have culture, because the culture of the world is my culture. […] Then everywhere I am, I’m like water. And then if you put me in that cup, I’m going to take the form of this cup. That’s the way I am. […] I meet people here from different places all over the world. And then we can put ourselves together and then make music in maybe different languages and different cultures and then mix everything. Because we’re not going to do music just for Yellowknife, just for Canada. Nowadays, the music is something good all over the world. You know. Then that’s why for me, I think we need to put the culture together, put the rhythms of music together.  For example, you can in just one music find different rhythms inside one song.That is a project […] I’m thinking about working on it. […] And then if we have a Christmas song, and then many people, and then they talk about different things, but around the same subject, but in different languages. To show all we can be together for one thing, for one reason. 

- I think we’re getting close to time. 

- Raphaël Foisy-Couture: I’ve been mainly asking questions but I feel this conversation also makes me want to maybe share a bit more of my musical and community experiences on everything that has been said here too. […] We’ve talked about the stress and the pressure of best practices, which is a lot of what we’ve been talking about: the idea of industry. But a lot of people don’t do music for the industry. From where I, my music, or the music of the scene I come from, which is largely experimental, largely very weird by nature or unusual. Everybody might like to make a living with music, but it’s just not possible. Even with my music, most of the people that I work with, we are pragmatic about the fact that we might get gigs sometimes and everything, but it’s not necessarily the end goal.

 It’s about fostering a community of practice. It’s about fostering links and also the accessibility to these practices. I was here, just with my [portable audio] recorder. I think kids would also benefit, for example, to be exposed to field recording practices here because the [environment] is so unique. You could go in nature […]. I think it’s a completely different way of looking at music too. Even like classical, you know, string music, as somebody who’s a professional musician, I know this is inaccessible to me […] because I started music too late and I come from another background. But you can introduce people to different ways of making music  and different ways of approaching it. […] I think here you have this already. And that’s kind of what I felt. There’s so many different streams of practice and ways of doing it. I think this is what’s so great about it is that a lot of people can find their own way into it.[…] In my community, we build our own venues most of the time, kind of like what you did here [during the festival] you know. In Montreal, lots of the places I play would be DIY venues. So for example, a SOCAN license is just not thinkable [in such venues] there’s also challenges about these things. I think here [in Yellowknife] there’s a lot of things that resonated with me and with my experience of music, to just be able to sustain it, find space to do it, get people engaged, find new ways to maybe engage [with] it as a community. I just wanted to say thank you for letting me see some of that work; to hear and engage in that practice with you for a week. So for that I want to thank you [all] very much. 

Complementary Informations:

APTN National Indigenous Music Impact Study can be consulted here:

https://www.aptnnews.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Music-Impact-Study.pdf

ATTI!  Indigenous Artists Collective Research Summary can be consulted here:

http://www.atticollective.com/uploads/3/4/9/4/34945811/2023aug_researchsummary.pdf

More informations on SOCAN and on the Canadian Music Incubator can be found here:

CNMN would like to thank:

Carly Mcfadden, Teresa Horosko and Folks on the rocks

Mike Auty and Music NWT

Bran Ram and Western Arctic Moving Pictures 

Tanya Snow and ATTI! Indigenous Artists Collective

Batiste Foisy

Martin Rehak

Pablo Saravanja 

CNMN would like to thank and congratulate all the artists and musicians for their inspiring performances:

Cassandra Blondin-Burt 

Ryan McCord

LJJ

Rob Elo

Kathryn Louise Oraas  

Kay Sibbeston 

Garneau String Quartet  (Robert Uchida , Laura Veeze, Keith Hamm, Julie Hereish)

Andrew Ball

CNMN would also like to thank Peter Skinner, the technical crew and all the volunteer of the festival for letting CNMN contribute to the technical side of the festival.

The post Sustainable Futures Regional Meetings 2024 Report appeared first on CNMN.

Zoom link will be provided the day of to prevent any hacking, and will be published in our newsletter.

To give your vote to someone else, please fill in the proxy form.

Agenda

1. Verification of Quorum and opening of meeting
2. Approve the Agenda (vote)
3. Approve minutes from last AGM, of October 6, 2022 (vote)
4. Receive the President’s Report — Juliet Palmer reviews the 2022–23 season as CNMN president
5. Receive the Committee reports of the 2022–23 season
6. Receive the Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2023
7. Appoint the auditor for the financial year 2023–24 (nomination and vote)
8. Other business
9. Adjournment

Reports

President’s Report

The work we do together plants us deeper into our communities, building resilience and strength for the challenges ahead. Thanks to the tireless efforts of the CNMN Board over this past year. We’ve wrestled a new mandate into existence and are preparing to launch a new name (stay tuned!). We welcomed five fantastic new board members — Liberté-Anne Lymberiou, Marina Hasselberg, Eric Normand, Jennifer Thiessen, and Chenoa Anderson — and are already grateful for their contributions of enthusiasm, critical thought and creative insights. We said farewell to Megumi Masaki, Linda Bouchard and An-Laurence Higgins this year. Thank you An-Laurence for your fresh ideas and perspective! Linda, it has been invaluable to have your support and critical thinking as we grow as an organization. Megumi, your wisdom and energy have been vital to our development, especially in our regional partnerships. And, lastly, I speak for the whole board when I say that none of this would be possible without our hard-working and whip-smart staff. Thank you Terri, Aurore, Louise, Kyran, Mathieu and Jason for another year of dedicated work. What a fantastic team!

In the middle of the winter I had the joy of joining a workshop on creative music and sound led by educators Doug Friesen and Katherine Fraser. We listened, learned, made sounds and shared ideas and stories. We heard about Katherine’s students improvising to the score the stream of the passing cars outside the window: colours, sizes, and speeds prompting a shifting soundscape. Just one of many captivating approaches to engaging students in the creative possibilities of shared sound-making. Doug and Katherine developed the PCM Hub Sector Focus Guide for Education: whether you’re an educator or not, the guide is inspiring for anyone looking to shake up their ideas about music and sound. Looking further ahead, Louise Campbell will be building the library resources of the PCM Hub with guides focussed on health care, community, and correctional institutions

It’s powerful to gather in person and realize you’re not alone. That sense of solidarity and shared concern was palpable in CNMN’s regional conversations on sustainable futures held this spring. From Halifax and Ottawa to Brandon, Vancouver and Montreal, participants shared, listened and found common ground. While life may seem to have returned to normal in many ways, the arts sector is still recovering from the enormous impact of the past three years. We need collective action to move us forward in new more sustainable ways. 

I invite you to eavesdrop on snatches of those conversations (see below). If you’re intrigued, curious, wish you’d said it, disagree, or otherwise want to engage, please join us online and in person in February 2024 at our national gathering. Let’s dig deeper together. 

Thanks for reading! Looking forward to meeting with you in February at Sustainable Futures. 

Warm wishes,

Juliet

Sustainable Futures Regional Meetings

Report by Terri Hron

Committee members: ED, Juliet Palmer, Norman Adams, Claude Schryer, Tanya Kalmanovitch, Ellen Waterman

We have had five regional meetings, all that were scheduled until now.

In 2022–23, CNMN started Sustainable Futures, which will have a number of projects, with Regional Meetings. Above are some excerpts of participant feedback we collected during these consultations, which were aimed at understanding where the creative music and sound community are at in terms of sustainability in light of the climate emergency. Here is a list of meetings that took place:

• March 16, 2023 in Halifax, in collaboration with Scotia Festival
• March 29, 2023 in Ottawa, in collaboration with the Research Centre on Music, Sound and Society in Canada
• April 22, 2023 in Brandon, in collaboration with the Eckhardt-Grammaté Competition 
• May 23, 2023 in Vancouver, in collaboration with CMC BC
• June 14, 2023 in Montreal, in collaboration with Le Vivier

Each meeting was quite different, depending on the participants present. In Halifax, we listened to a presentation by the director of Music Declares Emergency and discussed the realities of small music production/presentation organizations in less central areas of Canada. In Ottawa, we had many long-time activists and cultural organizers in the room bringing a deep, experience-rich perspective. In Brandon, there were quite a few competitors and their collaborating pianists, who provided perspectives from those just starting out in their careers. Other attendees who live and/or teach in Brandon offered insights from what it is like for people outside major centres. In Vancouver, we were joined by many artists working in the city, who often have pieces that are influenced by or on environmental topics. The conversation highlighted how much has been done–also historically–by creative music and sound artists to bring attention to the climate crisis and relations with the land. In Montreal, we were offered presentations by the CALQ and the Conseil québécois des événements écoresponsables, who discussed their current grant programs to support sustainability. This was followed by a short sharing of concerns and ideas. Many of the participants were Vivier members and so the role of umbrella organizations such as le Vivier was also discussed. Everywhere, there was very vulnerable and open sharing. 

We found out mid-May that we received our FACTOR funding for this project, so three more meetings will be taking place before the end of summer 2024.

Find a full report, with anonymized transcriptions of participant comments here. 

Communications & Membership 

Report by Aurore Blondelot
Committee Members: ED, PR, Juliet Palmer, Andrew Miller, Jennifer Thiessen

The 2022–2023 season of the Canadian New Music Network was marked by a return to face-to-face activities.

After two seasons of Conversations broadcast online, CNMN presented a series of regional consultations (in Halifax, Ottawa, Brandon, Vancouver and Montreal) around Sustainable Futures – as a preamble to its next National Gathering on the same theme. The conclusions of these Regional Meetings were brought together in short descriptive reports, available in a bilingual version on the CNMN website, and will subsequently be disseminated in a condensed manner on the CNMN social networks.

Continuing its activities for the third consecutive year, the Participatory Creative Music Hub initiated its first workshop in hybrid format (online and in person), with the presentation of its new resource ‘Creative Music in Education’, at the Center of Canadian music in Toronto. This workshop was promoted in the CNMN newsletter and on social networks and the video clips presented during the workshop are available for free access on the RCMN website and YouTube channel.

The PCM Hub also launched a new call for projects (taking place in social and community services) and the CNMN continued its ConneXions mentoring program to support artists in their musical and sound creation projects. All of the communication campaigns and the resulting projects and mentoring were shared on CNMN social networks with 2–3 publications per week and in bimonthly newsletters.

This year, CNMN continued to promote its new Pay What You Can membership model and deployed a marketing campaign to update member profiles. Voting members are always encouraged to share their activities to amplify them on social media. To this end, and in connection with the question of eco-responsible futures, CNMN notably promoted the Conscious Podcast of Sustainable Futures committee member , Claude Schryer, as well as that of SCALE/LeSaut and Tar Sand Songbook by Tanya Kalmanovitch, guest presenter of the next National Gathering.

To conclude, the number of subscribers to the CNMN mailing list remains constant, with a newsletter opening rate of around 50%. The number of subscribers to the Facebook page and the X‑Twitter and Instagram accounts is still increasing slightly and the number of interactions with the content of the publications is maintained despite a reduced reach. In order to maintain good visibility, CNMN continues to create dynamic communication content, in particular by developing the video/reels format, to contribute to the influence of its various activities.

Sustainable Futures National Gathering Planning

Report by Terri Hron
Committee members: ED, Juliet Palmer, Andrew Miller, Liberté-Anne Lymberiou, Joseph Glaser

The first meeting of this committee took place in March, with two consultants — Yang Chen and Lindsay Dobbin — to determine how programming would take place for the Sustainable Futures National Gathering. The consultants were brought in to speak to equity and inclusion practices, and we have adopted their recommendations (posting detailed information about the selection process, pointing to our Equity and Access Policy and Action plan, programming more than 50% through the Open Call). 

While we were initially hoping to have the event in November, in tandem with Music Declares Emergency’s Summit, we moved the dates to February 16–19, 2024 so as to be able to benefit from FACTOR funding. To that end, we submitted an application to FACTOR for the September 15 deadline for Collective Initiatives. FACTOR has consistently funded our National Gatherings/FORUM in the past. 

Invitation have been issued and accepted to Casey Koyczan, Jessica McMann, Rory McLeod/Paolo Griffin, Tanya Kalmanovitch, the PCM Hub and Kat Estacio. There will be:

• two concerts, one for Open Call proposals and one carte blanche curated by Kat Estacio for Toronto-based artists.
• two panels with presentations and moderated conversations, one on Ecology and one on Economy.
• 3–5 workshops
• a facilitated presenter/arts organization round table
• two improvisation sessions
• participatory/experiential participant sharing and listening

The Open Call for Proposals is accepting submissions until September 30. Selected participants will have their travel and accommodations organized and funded by CNMN and receive a small fee. 

An access fund will be announced in November to facilite participation for those who wish simply to come to the Gathering, with financial support for travel, accommodations, child care, accessibility needs, etc. 

Mentorship 

Report by Helen Pridmore
Committee: Norman Adams, Müge Büyükçelen, Terri Hron, Juliet Palmer, Helen Pridmore

The committee received eight ConneXions Mentorship program applications for the 2022–23 season. The submissions received were for development of compositional work, learning new technological skills, outreach programming (in care homes), or for personal performance mentoring.  We were disappointed that there were no submissions from people in arts administration or other, less “typical” mentoring areas of the creative music community.  However, the submissions received were strong.

The committee received awarded mentorships to the following six people: Laura Gillis (Toronto) — mentor Ruth Howard; Lance Marcus Sampson (Halifax) — mentor Michael Donovan; Sarah Rossy (Montréal) — mentor Myriam Boucher; Theresa Thordarson (Winnipeg) — mentor Zohreh Gervais; Gabo Champagne (Montréal) — mentor Marie-Annick Béliveau; and Thomas Gauthier-Lang (Montréal) — mentor Noam Bierstone. 

For the next round of applications, happening now, the Committee discussed some new ideas.  Some adjustments to the wording of the ConneXions description have been made, and further detail added, for clarity.  There had been a suggestion that mentors and mentees could apply as teams, but the Committee decided to recommend against this:  as stated in the project description, “…the spirit of the program is in creating new connections”. 

Organizational Transformation

Report by Helen Pridmore
Committee: ED, Juliet Palmer, Helen Pridmore, Julie Richard, Jennifer Thiessen

This committee began to meet in Feb. 2023. The aims of the committee were to determine the next steps for CNMN and the Board, including a new name, and a new mission/mandate.  It seems that CNMN is ready to move in a new direction, something different from the CNMN goals currently in our mission statement.  CNMN is moving more in an activist direction, seeking real change in how art works in society. The committee discussed key issues here, including a definition of “creative music and sound” that can hold the network together; a need for sustaining artistic well-being, as well as community engagement; and a desire for a network of shared learning.  

For the next few months the committee met online and via email exchanges, and worked hard to craft the new ideas into a name and a mission that can be supported by CNMN members.  Ideas were shared at Board meetings and Board members assisted with editing.

After much deliberation, the Committee proposes the new name:

Réseau de creation musicale et sonore / Creative Music and Sound Network 

RMCS / CMSN

Terri has reserved the domain names:

• • Creativemusicandsound.ca

• • Creationmusicaleetsonore.ca

The new Mission Statement can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zly5BBRrJKD2fy66BO_pmYGIJz5bQY4euGDSqs5G9So/edit

PCM Hub 

Report by Project Lead Louise Campbell

In 2019, CNMN received funding through the Canada Council’s Digital Strategy Fund to create an on-line Participatory Creative Music Hub. Participatory creative music is a variety of practices in which all people involved have active input into the process of creating music. A facilitator may guide and participate in the process, and decision-making and authorship is shared. The Hub is full of inspiring, innovative projects hailing from the fields of education, health, community, social services and incarceration.

The key achievement of the 2022–23 season was a successful Open Call for project with a focus on projects occurring in the sector of Community, and positive response and visibility gained at two major conferences in the area of Arts and Health and the peer-reviewed journal Performance Matters. Consultants have been contracted for Sector Focus Resources in the areas of Rehab & Incarceration, Health and Community, for delivery of materials in fall 2023.

Hub activities in 2021–22 season included:

• 15 consultants hired to provide expert advice 

• Open Call with a focus on projects occurring in Community

• 8 successful Open Call projects completed and uploaded by Samantha Tai, jashen edwards & Patrick Murray, Lauren Best, Frédérique Drolet, Jennifer Lang, Kathy Kennedy, Shumaila Hemani, and Shifra Cooper (pending)

• Dissemination through
• • presentation at conferences including ACFAS Congrès: Arts et réadaptation (keynote speech) and Music and Health Research Institute Conference (roundtable ‘Social Prescription Mobilization for Music Making and Mental Health’)

• • publication of article in peer-reviewed online journal Performance Matters 

• • partner orgs such as Canadian Network for Arts and Learning etc

• • Beta testing to assess the functionality and content of the Hub website, and subsequent adjustments

For more information, and to be part of the Hub, please contact Louise Campbell at mlouisecampbell@gmail.com.

The post AGM 2023 Agenda & Reports appeared first on CNMN.

Agenda

1. Verification of Quorum and opening of meeting
2. Approve the Agenda (vote)
3. Approve minutes from last AGM, of Octobr 14, 2021 (vote)
4. Receive the President’s Report — Juliet Palmer reviews the 2021–22 season as CNMN president
5. Receive the Committee reports of the 2021–22 season
6. Receive the Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2022
7. Appoint the auditor for the financial year 2022–23 (nomination and vote)
8. Board Member Votes
9. Vote to change bylaws on Board Member voting — see new wording here
10. Other business
11. Adjournment

Reports

President’s Report

Communications & Membership 

Forum 2021

• 5 videos on Land, Access, Indigenous, Innovation and Community issues, with the voices and work of artistic leaders. These videos were edited by Jeff Morton. Presenters included: Becca Taylor (Ociciwan Collective), Astrolabe Musik Theatre (Delphine Derickson-Armstrong and Heather Pawsey), Ian Cusson, Geronimo Inutiq and Sandy Scofield for Indigenous Resurgence; Rebecca Caines, Louise Campbell, Giorgio Magnanensi, and Roxanne Turcotte for Community; Col Cseke (Good Host), Chelsea Jones, Julie Richard and Ellen Waterman for Access; Suzanne Kite, Amy Brandon, Teresa Connors, Helga Jakobson and Annie Martin for Innovation/Technology; and Tanya Kalmanovitch, Heather Peat Hamm, Tina Pearson and Jenni Schine for Land;
• A showcase of 20+ short videos of creative music and sound artists from across the country and artistic practice. Artists included Evelin Ramon, Andrew Adridge, Michelle Boudreau, Jenna Turner, Caitlin Sian Richards, Sarah Albu,Lia Pas, Kathryn Ladano, Frank Horvat, Anoush Moazzeni, THIRTYMINUTES, Parker Thiessen, Arlan Vriens, Chenoa Anderson, Erin Donovan, SHHH!! Ensemble, Alexandra Gorlin-Crenshaw and Kim Farris-Manning;
• 4 events produced by presenters from the heart of Canada on the Prairies: the Eckhardt-Grammatté Competition, Holophon Audio Arts, New Music Edmonton and New Works Calgary.

Mentorship 

Conversations

Indigenous Resurgence — January 18, 2022

Land — February 15, 2022

Innovation/Technology — March 15, 2022

Access Apr 12 2022

Participatory Music Hub 

• 17 consultants hired to provide expert advice
• Open Call with a focus on projects occurring in Health completed
• 8 successful Open Call projects completed and uploaded by Naila Kuhlmann, Sherry L. Dupuis, Laura Gillis, Julia Weder, Pia Kontos, Leah Abramson, Ira Lee Gathers, and Geremia Lorenzo Lodi
• Dissemination through partner orgs Canadian Network for Arts and Learning, Canadian Music Educators’ Association, Coalition for Music Education, provincial music ed orgs, Room 217, Canadian Association for Music Therapy and more

The post AGM 2022 Agenda & Reports appeared first on CNMN.

Agenda

1. Verification of Quorum and opening of meeting
2. Approve the Agenda (vote)
3. Approve minutes from last AGM, of September 17, 2020 (vote)
4. Receive the President’s Report — Juliet Palmer reviews the 2020–21 season as CNMN president
5. Receive the Working Group reports of the 2020 21season
6. Receive the Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2021
7. Appoint the auditor for the financial year 2021–22 (nomination and vote)
8. Present the new Board Members (An-Laurence Higgins)
9. Other business
10. Adjournment

President’s Report

by Juliet Palmer

Another twelve months have rolled by in the disorienting drag and rush of pandemic time. The quiet of the past year has been both a gift and a challenge. I miss the intimacy and connection of live music-making, the unpredictable conversations in the line-up for tickets, the random glimpses into each other’s lives and work. I crave connection, the aliveness that comes from making music together, and the simple joy of sharing space — one person among many attentive and rapt listeners. I know it’s coming back, this world of concerts and installations and improv sessions and festivals. In some towns and cities it’s already here — in others, a concert seat is still a comfy spot in front of a computer screen. 

In the meantime, CNMN has taken to heart its mandate to connect and nurture relationships amongst the wide and diverse sound and music communities of Canada. The Conversation series continued with a focus on decolonization, inviting us to move beyond discussion to take tangible action that addresses systemic inequity. We look forward to the evolution of this series as it expands from FORUM 2021 with its focus on activism in cultural practice. 

Under Louise Campbell’s steady hand, the Participatory Creative Music Hub has grown apace, with a vibrant library that supports creative musical engagement in prisons, hospitals, schools and other less-trafficked areas of musical life.  

The ConneXions mentorship program offered vital opportunities for growth and connection in a time of uncertainty and financial instability. We are thrilled to offer the program once again this year — the deadline is rolling, so find out more and apply online. 

FORUM is underway, even as I type, in a gentle ten week digital unfolding that spans five full-length videos, twenty cameo videos and four events by Prairie producers. “Listen Up!” celebrates the innovation and paradigm shifts of music and sound practices outside the concert hall.  Thanks to the steadfast work of producer Jeff Morton, ED Terri Hron and the FORUM committee (Helen Pridmore, Megumi Masaki, and Po Yeh). Experience FORUM and Listen Up! on our website, Youtube channel and social media feeds.

This year we welcomed An-Laurence Higgins to the board. An-Laurence brings experience and perspective as a performer and creator devoted to collaboration and thoughtful inquiry into cultural identity. We say farewell and offer heartfelt thanks to André Cormier for his years of service as a Board member, in particular for his work as a bilingual adviser. We are indebted to the members of the Board for their persistence and energy over this uniquely long year in keeping our active committees active: from FORUM, Communications, Equity and Diversity, to the Mentorship Advisory. The board’s wisdom, experience and commitment to the network are deeply appreciated and we look forward to another year working together. Maybe this year we will finally meet in person!

I’ve learned much over the course of the year collaborating closely with Executive Director Terri Hron. Her dedication and sharp wit have helped CNMN navigate an uncertain year with grace and creativity. CNMN is a growing team and I’m delighted to thank our media specialist Aurore Blondet, administrative assistant Suzu Enns, book-keeper Mathieu Leclair and web designer Jason Campbell for their skills and team work behind the scenes. I look forward to working with the Board and staff, along with our funding and partner organizations to strengthen CNMN’s role as a hub of learning and exchange, an agent of change and a catalyst for new ways of creating and connecting. 

Forum Planning

Report by Terri Hron

Committee members: ED, Megumi Masaki, Jeff Morton, Juliet Palmer, Helen Pridmore

The 2020–2021 season was dedicated largely to reimagining the Forum as an online celebration.

In December, the decision was taken not to host a postponed, in-person event and to proceed with our first online version. 

The pandemic year provided us with many examples of online presentations and panels, and it also became clear that there was a lot of fatigue with real-time, online events. For this reason, the Forum team decided to focus on pre-recorded content and a deployment of events over a longer time — ten weeks , with the hope of increasing our reach and visibility on social media, as well as engagement through our newsletter. In the end, we decided to focus on the following for the  14th edition:

• 5 videos on Land, Access, Indigenous Resurgence, Innovation and Community issues, with the voices and work of artistic leaders;
• A showcase of 20+ short videos of creative music and sound artists from across the country and artistic practice;
• 4 events produced by presenters from the heart of Canada on the Prairies.

In order to have enough time for this production, the launch of Forum was set for late September. At the end of June 2021, we were well underway with the production of the 5 thematic videos, in contracts with the Prairie presenters, and the Forum Showcase applications were about to open.

While this is a report on last year, at the time of this AGM, Forum is well underway and all activities can be found on the FORUM page.

Communications & Membership

Report by Terri Hron

Committee Members: ED, PR, Juliet Palmer, Linda Bouchard

In the past year, communications have become more regular with minimum bi-weekly social media posting and regular newsletters to announce calls, online events and membership/profile reminders. The strategy and deployment was designed and executed by PR assistant Aurore Blondelot, and our number of followers and engagements on social media keep increasing. Our newsletter numbers stay steady with new members and interested parties joining and often older contacts unsubscribing. 

Since all our activities were online in this past year, the YouTube channel, our website and social media have been closely linked with Facebook Live Conversation events, PCM Hub videos on the YouTube channel and all things searchable on the website. 

Improvements to the website continued, with a new page about digital accessibility and at-home-activities for music creativity.

After conversations at each board meeting about membership and how best to support artists during the pandemic, it was voted in June 2021 that we would switch to a pay-what-you-can model for the coming year. We look forward to seeing how people respond and whether this encourages more people to become full members. 

Mentorship

Report by Helen Pridmore

Committee: Norman Adams, Müge Büyükçelen, Terri Hron, Juliet Palmer, Helen Pridmore

The CNMN Connexions project was successful in its first year of operation.  The project pairs applicants with specific projects, with mentors from our community who meet with them for one to four sessions to develop these new projects.  The program is open to anyone interested in creative music and sound practices.  In the first year, we were able to support 14 matches. To see the list of mentees and mentors, please visit the ConneXions Mentorship page. 

We submitted an application to Canada Council for the Arts Sector Innovation and Development for this project for upcoming years, but our application was not deemed applicable since we had mentioned this project as a possible new project should we receive a funding increase (which CNMN was not accorded). We will continue to seek possible funding sources. 

We will continue with the project in 2021–22 with a rolling application deadline starting in August and ending mid-October.

Conversations

Report by Juliet Palmer, October 7, 2021

Committee: Terri Hron, Matthew Fava (CMC), Ian Crutchley/Sophie Dupuis (CLC), Juliet Palmer, Aurore Blondelot

CNMN’s Conversation series actively engages with CNMN’s membership and beyond. Beginning with the Rolling National Conversations on Diversity (2017, Halifax, Montréal and Victoria), the series continued through 2019 in Victoria (Sustainability) and Winnipeg (Equity and Diversity). In 2019–20 we moved to an online format in response to the pandemic and to ensure wider access to members and communities across Canada. The themes evolve in response to changes in our cultural landscape and wider societal upheavals. 

Our 2020–21 series focused on decolonisation. All conversations are available on Youtube — edited and with closed captioning.  Follow the links below!

October 22 Curators: Dylan Robinson & Mitch Renaud “Decolonial Imaginings”
Settler composers/ compositeurs : jake moore, Jocelyn Morlock, Juliet Palmer, Luke Nickel, Kelly Ruth
Respondents/ répondants : Tina Pearson & Tamara Levitz 

November 12 Curator: Parmela Attariwala “Can Western Art Music ever be Equitable in Practice and in Perception?”
Guests: Pat Carrabré, Ian Cusson, Lise Vaugeois, Dinuk Wijeratne 

December 2 Curator: Olivia Shortt “Process vs Product”
Guests: Olivia Davies, Kim Senklip Harvey, Marion Newman, Tyler J. Sloane 

January 14 Curator: Remy Siu “We can’t play their game, their way”
Guests: Gabriel Dharmoo, Melody McKiver, Nancy Tam & Leslie Ting. 

March 11 Curator: Curtis Lefthand “Songs We’ve Always Known”
Guests: Matthew Cardinal, Black Belt Eagle Scout,Wyatt C. Louis, Hannah Owl Child

April 22 Curator: Gabriel Dharmoo “Décolonialité et diversité : perspectives d’artistes en musiques nouvelles”
Guests: Daniel Añez, An-Laurence Higgins, Corie Rose Soumah, Rouzbeh Shapdey

Participatory Music Hub

Report by project lead Louise Campbell       

In 2019, CNMN received funding through the Canada Council’s Digital Strategy Fund to create an on-line Participatory Creative Music Hub. Participatory creative music is a variety of practices in which all people involved have active input into the process of creating music. A facilitator may guide and participate in the process, and decision-making and authorship is shared. The Hub is full of inspiring, innovative projects hailing from the fields of education, health, community, social services and incarceration.

The key achievement of the 2020–21 season was the launch of the online Hub user-based platform. Feedback from practitioners working in the target sectors indicates that the Hub is responsive to the depth and range of PCM activities. Practitioners responded with excitement about the relevance and existence of such a resource and the potential for strengthening visibility and the practice as a result. 

Hub activities in 2020–21 season included:

·       15 Pilot Projects & 6 Tips & Tools articles completed and released

·       +125 community consultations

·       17 consultants hired to provide expert advice 

·       8 successful Open Call projects completed by RECAA Choir, Piece of Mind Collective, Thais Montanari, Paramorph Collective, Geremia Lorenzo Lodi, Dina Cindric, Guillaume Jabbour and Deirdre Potash

·       First steps in dissemination in the fields of education and music therapy

We’re thrilled to announce that we have been awarded substantial funds from the Canada Council’s Digital Strategy Fund to continue expanding and disseminating the Hub.

This season, we will continue to conduct community consultations in order to create a responsive and useful resource for practitioners, and best position the Hub for use by various stakeholders. If you or anyone you know is interested in being part of the Hub, or potential contacts for dissemination please let us know!

For more information, and to share your experiences, please contact Louise Campbell.

The post AGM 2021 Annual Reports appeared first on CNMN.

Agenda

1. Verification of Quorum and opening of meeting
2. Approve the Agenda (vote)
3. Approve minutes from last AGM, of September 24, 2019 (vote)
4. Receive the President’s Report — Juliet Palmer reviews the 2019–20 season as CNMN president
5. Receive the Working Group reports of the 2019–2020 season
6. Receive the Financial Statements  for the year ended 30 June 2020
7. Appoint the auditor for the financial year 2020–2021 (nomination and vote)
8. Present the new Board Members (Rob Thomson & ?)
9. Other business
10. Adjournment

President’s Report

Report by Juliet Palmer, September 14, 2020

This year has been like no other.

The global pandemic has brought home the interconnections between all living beings. Suffering and violence stemming from systemic injustice, racism, and colonialism have been laid bare in ways that challenge those with privilege to examine how we might remake the world to ensure a just and secure future for all. What is the role of cultural organizations in perpetuating privilege? How do we harness creative imagination in service of societal change? These are some of the questions we face as a network dedicated to connection, learning and advocacy.

The pandemic brought our plans for FORUM to a sudden halt. This year’s event in Regina promised an inspiring and challenging mix of international, Canadian and local perspectives, thoughtfully curated by Terri, in partnership with the planning committee — Helen Pridmore, Po Yeh and Megumi Masaki. Luke Nickel, Ian Crutchley – and producer Jeff Morton. Listen Up was to be a celebration of the spirit of activism and inclusion through five themes: Access, Community, Indigenous Resurgence, Land and Technology-Innovation.

That spirit of inclusive innovation found new expression in the months that followed, as CNMN rapidly pivoted to support new ways of connecting. A series of online community conversations supported compassionate and thought-provoking community connections. Guest speakers informed and engaged, shedding light on issues relevant to this moment, and also to the future. Community members met from around the country in break-out rooms, to discuss the challenges facing both the artistic and broader Canadian culture, considering possible futures that avoid a return to an unjust and unsustainable “normal”.

With pandemic restrictions to in-person gatherings predicted to wax and wane throughout the coming year, CNMN is committed to growing our online presence and deepening our level of engagement with the community.

The Conversation series continues with a focus on Decolonization. Cultivating new conversations and opportunities for mutual learning, guest curators include: Olivia Shortt, Curtis Lefthand, Parmela Attariwala, and Remy Siu.

A huge range of participatory creative music projects have been documented under the energetic leadership of Louise Campbell for the PCM Hub. Over the coming year workshops and showcases will raise the profile of this resource and the potential to spark the creativity of all members of our society —including those in schools, hospitals, prisons and long-term care.

As we shift gears and glimpse an unfamiliar future, many of us in the creative sector are seeking guidance and mentorship. CNMN’s Connexions pilot program was conceived in pre-Covid times, but is proving to be a particularly useful offering for people embarking on new ventures. The response to the program has been positive, with more demand than we have the funds to support. Online mentorships are underway and about to lift off!

The CNMN Board continues to be engaged and active: from the FORUM, Strategic Plan, Communications, Equity and Diversity, and Mentorship Advisory committees, to those offering feedback on the never-ending round of grants that Terri so capably writes. The board’s support, energy and valuable skills are deeply appreciated and we look forward to another year working together.

During the year we were thrilled to welcomed Rob Thomson to the board. Rob brings valuable experience in arts management, curation and performance through his work at Full Circle and Talking Stick Festival. This year we farewell Pierre-Olivier Roy after two year on the board and thank him in particular for his work on the Strategic Plan. Clemens Merkel stepped down from the board during the year and we thank him for his contribution over the years to CNMN, especially to discussions of touring and mentorship.

It has been a pleasure to work closely this year with Executive Director Terri Hron, whose intelligence and compassion have ensured that CNMN has been ready to face a time of tremendous upheaval with creativity and insight. I look forward to working with the Board and staff, along with our funding and partner organizations to strengthen CNMN’s role as an activator of ideas, a home for learning and exchange, and as a catalyst for transformational change.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

Report by Terri Hron, September 14, 2020

Committee members: Juliet Palmer, Megumi Masaki, Rob Thomson, André Cormier, Julie Richard.

The EDI group’s work this past year mainly focused on the creation of an EDI policy document that was adopted by the board and will be available in both languages on our website by the end of September 2020. This document was largely written by past-president Jennifer Waring and board member Megumi Masaki – we thank them for their hard work on this!

Forum Planning

Report by Terri Hron, September 14, 2020

Committee members: Ian Crutchley, ED, Darren Miller, Megumi Masaki, Jeff Morton, Luke Nickel, Juliet Palmer, Helen Pridmore

The Forum Planning committee worked hard to curate an exciting edition of Forum around activism and advocacy with the theme Listen Up and the topics Access, Community, Indigenous Resurgence, Land and Technology-Innovation. 32 invited presenters including 5 keynotes, 4 international guests, and 12 successful open call applications make up a program that was to take place at the University of Regina, First Nations University of Canada and downtown venues in collaboration with the Cathedral Village Arts Festival. All information is available on the FORUM Webpage. 

For the first time, CNMN was able to offer travel and participation support, and was just about to allocate funds to applicants when COVID-19 hit.

The CNMN board has decided to postpone the event until spring 2021. Arrangements for housing, travel and registrations were also underway, and we were luckily able to make the necessary changes without losses. 

Stay tuned for take two!

Communications & Membership

Report by Juliet Palmer, September 11, 2020

Committee Members: ED, PR, Juliet Palmer, Linda Bouchard

Activities:

Supporting Terri as she implements the Membee system for the membership database, including: reviewing organizations in the existing database to ensure the listing is relevant and up to date; and resolving issues around how to deal with unpaid dues and lapsed memberships, creating a category for receiving news updates only.

Supporting Terri and Aurore (our PR person) in outreach and communication. Over the year this included helping publicize opportunities for participation in the FORUM through the Open Call, accessing the Travel subsidy fund, sharing news about the Conversations series and building interest in the pilot Mentorship program CONNEXIONS. 

The creation of the PR position and a coherent social media strategy has been a huge boon over this past year. We look forward to supporting the growing awareness of CNMN’s activities in an engaging and inclusive way over the coming year. 

Mentorship

Report by Helen Pridmore, September 12, 2020

Committee: Norman Adams, Müge Büyükçelen, Terri Hron, Juliet Palmer, Helen Pridmore

In June 2020, CNMN launched a new mentorship program.  Entitled ConneXions, this program is intended to support and guide artists and arts workers in different areas of creative music and sound practice.  The program matches artists who have a project in mind, with an experienced mentor/coach to guide and offer advice on the project.  Between one and four meetings will be scheduled between mentor and mentee. 

Applications were accepted on a rolling basis throughout the summer, from June until the end of August.  17 applications have been received, and to date four have been confirmed with mentors chosen and accepted.  One application has been postponed until next year.  The remaining applications are in process:  either mentors are being selected, approached and confirmed; or the applications themselves are still in the deliberation process by the committee.

It has been exciting to read the incoming applications and see the wonderful variety of music and sound projects underway in Canada, connected to CNMN.

Conversations

Report by Juliet Palmer, September 11, 2020

Committee: Terri Hron, Matthew Fava (CMC), Ian Crutchley/Sophie Dupuis (CLC), Juliet Palmer, Aurore Blondet

CNMN’s Conversation series actively engages with CNMN’s membership and beyond. Beginning with the Rolling National Conversations on Diversity (2017, Halifax, Montréal and Victoria), the series continued through 2019 in Victoria (Sustainability) and Winnipeg (Equity and Diversity). In 2019–20 we moved to an online format in response to the pandemic and to ensure wider access to members and communities across Canada. The themes evolve in response to changes in our cultural landscape and wider societal upheavals. 

• April 22: Earth Day with Andrew Balfour, Teresa Marie Connors, Helga Jakobson, Tanya Kalmanovitch, Tina Pearson, Jenni Schine and moderator Ellen Waterman
• May 6: New Normal with Curtis Lefthand, Keiko Devaux, Andrew Reed Miller and Ilana Waniuk and moderator Stacey Brown
• June 4: Multi-Arts postponed to July 2 in solidarity with Black Lives Matter. 
• June 18: Funding and Policy with host Jeff Morton, and featured speakers / En compagnie de notre modérateur Jeff Morton et avec pour conférenciers vedettes : Jessa Agilo (ArtsPond), James Missen (Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada), Charles C. Smith (Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario (CPAMO), Michael Trent (Metcalf Foundation), Stephen Williams (Edmonton Arts Council), & Po Yeh (Prairie Debut)
• July 2 Multi-Arts Moderator / L’animatrice Nikki Shaffeeulah with featured speakers / avec pour conférenciers vedettes : Neema Bickersteth, Col Cseke (Inside Out Theatre), Lindsay Dobbin, & Gerry Morita (Mile Zero Dance)

Following a conversation with the invited guests and moderator, we meet in smaller break-out groups to dig in deeper. Our discussions have ranged from mutually supportive and intimate sharing around strategies for mental health and community-building to galvanizing calls for funding and policy changes to address continued and systemic inequity experienced by Black and Indigenous artists. 

We have increased our fees for curators and speakers to adhere to CARFAC guidelines and are seeking additional funding to support this much-needed boost. We are so pleased to have both CMC and CLC as partners for our upcoming season – this marks the first joint project between the three ASOs.

Our Fall 2020 series focuses on decolonisation series and is curated by:

October 22: Dylan Robinson & Mitch Renaud
November 12: Parmela Attariwala
December 2: Olivia Shortt
January 14: Remy Siu
February 11: Curtis Lefthand
March 11: francophone panel, curator still TBA

Participation/Engagement

Report by Louise Campbell, September 16, 2020

The Participatory Creative Music Hub is a 2.5‑year initiative to research, create, implement and disseminate an on-line resource for Participatory Creative Music with the goals of sharing resources and building connectivity. 2020–21 represents the first year of the project, and has advanced by leaps and bounds over the course of the past year. 

Market research and community consultations showed a field full of practitioners working with great passion in a wide variety of venues, sectors and people. Over the course of the year, we have engaged pilot project consultants to share their expertise to help us create an online platform that responds to the wide range inherent in the practice, and the needs and interests of the community. Working in a variety of sectors from education, community associations, social services, corrections to health care, these consultants include:    

Bev Foster, Chelsea Jones, Chris Brown, Daniel Oore, Germaine Liu, Guillaume Jabbour, Helen Pridmore, Jeff Morton, Jodi Proznick, Kathryn Cobbler, Meredith Bates, Michel Frigon, MariEve Lauzon, Moe Clark, Nikola Tosic, Opéra de Montréal, Ruth Eliason, Ruth Howard, Steve Wright

Stay tuned for the Hub launch coming up soon!

The post AGM 2020 Annual Reports appeared first on CNMN.

Emily Doolittle and Sarah Albu were appointed to the Public Engagement Committee in December 2016, and formed the seven-member committee in winter 2017.

There was one committee meeting in the 2016–17 season (April 3, 2017) where we looked at how the committee can best realise its mandate to strengthen public engagement for Canadian new music.

The committee brainstormed many different ideas. The strongest commonality behind all of them was the need to focus on making Public Engagement not only an integral element in all other CNMN projects (forums, public discussions, etc.), but to focus on providing resources to help members of the network to do the same in their projects as well (concerts, etc.).

Louise Campbell suggested a project (possibly called Super Sonic) that builds on the current online list of CNMN music education resources, and becomes a hub for public engagement activities that are already happening across the country. This would allow people to share resources and learn from each other, as well as to share and archive the results of performances and activities. The committee decided to support this initiative, and early-stage work progressed late in the 2016–2017 season with the understanding that this is a more long-term project that will eventually involve CNMN staff, as the work entailed is too much to be done entirely on a voluntary basis.

Don’t hesitate to get in touch, we want to hear from you! Please contact Emily Doolittle –  or Sarah Albu.

Committee Members: Sarah Albu (co-chair), Emily Doolittle (co-chair), Louise Campbell, Jason Doell, Kathy Kennedy, Tawnie Olson, Jerry Pergolesi.

Submitted by Emily Doolittle, October 2017.

Past reports from this committee

Public Engagement Committee Report – June 2017
Public Engagement Committee Report – October 2016
Public Engagement Committee Report– October 2015
Public Engagement Committee Report– May 2015
Public Engagement Committee Report  – December 2014

Return to full Bulletin – March 2018

The post Public Engagement Committee Report — October 2017 appeared first on CNMN.

Jérôme Blais: There were few activities for the Language Committee for the first half of 2017. In June 2017, the Committee revised French translation of the Survey and the call for the Executive Director. The Committee has now passed to a single member, and we must be sure to build it up again so that the Committee can continue to fulfill its role as soon as possible.

Why join the CNMN language committee? Here is what one of our committee members, Jérôme Blais, responds: “Bilingualism is important for Canadian organizations that aim at a being truly national, and CNMN has always taken this very seriously. Despite limited means, but with dedicated volunteers, I believe we succeed in this mission and it makes me very proud. What I also like about this committee is the discussions it triggers. In order to find the right translation for a given text, we often need to reflect on its true meaning, which I find quite stimulating.”

Questions? Thinking about getting involved in the Language Committee? We’d love to hear your ideas! Please contact Jérôme Blais.

Submitted by Marc-Olivier Lamontagne and Jérôme Blais, October 2017.

Past reports from this committee

The Language Committee Report – October 2016
The Language Committee Report – June 2016
The Language Committee Report – October 2015
The Language Committee Report – May 2015
The Language Committee Report  – December 2014

Return to full Bulletin – March 2018

The post Official Languages Committee Report — October 2017 appeared first on CNMN.

The committee discussed the need for further mission development such as surveying both presenters and artists to learn what their needs are, and how CNMN can play a role in making touring of contemporary music in Canada easier for all parties.

This will be an interesting conversation that needs input from the whole range of Canadian new music practitioners. We hope that some of you would like to join in! Contact Norm Adams.

Committee Members: Norm Adams (chair), Kathryn Ladano, Clemens Merkel

Submitted by Norm Adams, October 2017

Past reports from this committee

Touring Network Committee Report — June 2017

Return to full Bulletin – March 2018

The post Touring Network Committee Report — October 2017 appeared first on CNMN.

The dates have been confirmed:

May 17 & 18, Victoriaville

May 19 & 20, Montréal

Our partners are the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (FIMAV), Groupe Le Vivier and the Department of Music at Concordia University.

The call for proposals is open with a deadline of January 3rd 2018.

2016–17 preliminary planning discussions touched on the following areas of interest:

• combining music with other artistic practices – considerations/challenges/rewards
• combining music with other non-artistic disciplines – considerations/challenges/rewards
• moving outside your own music/sound practice, integrating new skills
• marketing advantages and myths
• funding inter-arts projects
• developing inter-arts projects
• challenge to the audience – the brain’s ability to process visual and auditory input simultaneously

Want to help, got ideas, have questions? Contact Jennifer Waring.

Project team members: Jennifer Waring (chair), Tim Brady, Po Yeh, Juliet Palmer, Pierrette Gingras, Sandeep Bhagwati

Submitted by Jennifer Waring, October 2017

Past reports from this committee

FORUM 2018 Steering Committee Report – June 2017
Return to full Bulletin – March 2018

The post FORUM 2018 Steering Committee Report — October 2017 appeared first on CNMN.

It was an extremely valuable project, allowing for intense discussion on a huge range of diversity concerns. We heard the voices of under-represented artists and practitioners; and historically privileged or established practitioners began to understand that, while inclusion is a fine concept and sometimes appropriate, at times it is necessary just to step aside and make room. The substantial post-session materials published on our website are a valuable and essential part of the project that allow members of the community to benefit from the sessions, helping them to further their own work.

For their help in realizing this project we thank: Evelyn Cream (FACTOR), Lukas Pearse and Gay Osler (Upstream Music Association, Halifax), Norm Adams (SuddenlyLISTEN, Halifax), Christopher Reiche Boucher (Open Space, Victoria), Isak Goldschneider and Nick Horvat (Innovations en concert, Montreal), all the panelists, moderators, note-takers and circle exercise leaders, and all the participants who attended, in person or online.

Also, on behalf of CNMN and its Equity & Diversity Committee, Jennifer Waring attended a meeting called by Dylan Robinson and members of the Nisga’a and Metis community to discuss aspects of the opera Louis Riel.

Committee members: Jennifer Waring (chair), Jennifer Butler, Juliet Palmer, Norm Adams, Lukas Pearse, Isak Goldschneider and Chris Reiche.

Submitted by Jennifer Waring, October 2017

Read past bulletin entries from this committee

Equity & Diversity Committee Report – June 2017

Return to full Bulletin – March 2018

The post Equity & Diversity Committee Report — October 2017 appeared first on CNMN.