• Canadian Festival Report Card

    2017 Canadian Festival Report Card

    The 2017 Festival Report Card is here! For the past twenty years, the music industry has seen its stages dominated by men in most genres and scenes.  With the exceptions of the occasional women-focused festivals, like Lilith Fair, women have tended to see very little representation on stages, and nowhere is that more noticeable than at a festival, where sometimes hours can pass before a woman, a racialized person, or an LGBTQ, Two-Spirited, or Gender Non-Binary person walks on stage as a member of a band. With that in mind, we’ve been tallying up the numbers, and are presenting them below. We’d like to give a huge thank you to…

  • MarieLynnHammond-photo-by-Kate-Morgan-Images-300x195
    Canadian Festival Report Card,  Uncategorized

    2016 Canadian Festival Report Card

    For the past twenty years, the music industry has seen its stages dominated by men in most genres and scenes.  With the exceptions of the occasional women-focused festivals, like Lilith Fair, women have tended to see very little representation on stages, and nowhere is that more noticeable than at a festival, where sometimes hours can pass before a woman, a racialized person, or a member of the LGBTQ community walks on stage as a member of a band. With that in mind, we’ve been tallying up the numbers, and are presenting them below. This list is presented in the spirit of information-sharing – often, bookers and Artistic Directors don’t realize…

  • NXNE PRESENTS A SAUSAGE FESTIVAL - Electric City Magazine
    Articles,  Big Ideas

    NXNE PRESENTS A SAUSAGE FESTIVAL

    From a piece I wrote for Electric City Magazine: “The Canadian music industry is a diverse, varied place, but you wouldn’t know it from the endless parade of white guys with guitars wanking across the festival stages and conference panels of the nation. Over the past month, NXNE have been releasing the lineup for their Portlands festival, and the list, while appearing more racially diverse with the most recent release, is still very dude-heavy. With three women-fronted bands and one genderqueer artist out of 16 total acts released so far, I have to ask: where the fuck are the women, NorthBy?” Read the rest at Electric City Magazine.

  • Articles,  Big Ideas,  Events,  Ontario

    Music City – A strategy

    The points I’ve included below – headlined ‘A Strategy for Music Peterborough‘ – was created with my hometown in mind, but swap out a few names and organizations and this would be useful in any city to frame the way you approach different sectors with a view to creating a cohesive push to highlight music (or, I think, almost any local art or cultural highlight) and create a Music City mentality. I’ve made a few edits from the original document to make explicit the sort of things that I take as a given, but which aren’t obvious to everyone (like gender parity, inclusion of racialized people, good working conditions, etc.). A…

  • Eaglewood Folk Festival
    Canadian Festival Report Card

    2015 Festival Report Card

    In 2015, two volunteers collected data on festival lineups in our second iteration of the Canadian Festival Report Card. This report graded Ontario festivals on gender parity on their stages. Here are the results: A    45% – 50%+ (2 festivals) Home County Music & Art Festival ON – 61.11% Summerfolk ON – 60% B    35% – 44% (3 festivals) Hillside Festival ON – 38.10% CityFolk ON – 37.84% Live From The Rock Festival ON – 36.84% C    25% – 34% (2 festivals) Eaglewood Folk Festival ON – 33.33% Mariposa Folk Festival ON – 30% D – 15% – 24% (1 festival) Northern Lights Festival Boreal ON –…

  • On not getting gigs or grants - ChocQuibTown at The Distillery District
    Articles,  Band Advice

    On not getting gigs or grants.

    The work I do means saying “No” a lot more than “Yes.” Whether I’m working as a booker or jurying a grant or award, the ability to say no clearly, politely, and unequivocally is one of the most valuable skills I’ve developed. As AD of the Peterborough Folk Festival, I’d generally get about 700-1000 submissions from musical acts, and I’d have 25 or so slots to fill.  At minimum, I’d be listening, evaluating, and saying “No” 675 times to hopeful artists who’d poured their time, energy, sweat, and cash into their work.  The jury for Artsweek Peterborough ((A festival which I saved from certain death, restructured, and ran for 2 years.)) got…

  • Folk Alliance International Showcase
    Events

    Folk Alliance International Showcase

    We’re heading on down to Kansas City in February with 3,000 of our closest friends and folkies to the Folk Alliance International Conference.  Secret Frequency’s own Candace Shaw will be there, presenting a showcase room of Trad & International artists. Private showcases are the gem of music conferences; they are the late-night, hotel-room, no amplification opportunities for artists to play to a very, very intimate crowd – as many people who can cram into a hotel room.  The next room over, there’s another band showcasing, and on and on, filling two full floors of the hotel with music and promoters and DJs and more.  You’re up against If you can…

  • Articles,  Big Ideas,  Uncategorized

    On the cult of genius.

    The arts are full of abusive narcissists, people who are “soooo talented” that we’re told we have to overlook their bad behaviour and cherish their scarce genius. We have some prominent examples before us currently, but it plays out everywhere. These people are in every arts community, and they are endlessly destructive. They hoard resources and connections, they cut down their peers, they support no one but themselves.  Anyone who contradicts them is ostracized, shouted down, shut out. You don’t kiss the appropriate  ass, or – god forbid! – you offer an honest critical opinion of their work.  Suddenly you can’t access cheap rehearsal space,  you can’t find collaborators, you…

  • Big Ideas

    Notes from FMO meetup

    Canadian Women in Music Meetup Friday, October 17, 4:30pm Folk Music Ontario Conference Notetaker: Trish Facilitator: Candace Shaw Attendees: Enid Carol Goodman, Gabrielle Papillon, Corinne Rose, Allison Brown, Suzi Wilde, Nicole Colbeck, Emily Mitchell, Kathleen Merrett, Joanne Mill, Sarah Beatty, Mimi Shaw, Jayne Mitchell, Francine LeClair, Kristine St. Pierre, Shawna Caspi, Heather —, Leah Morise, Mike Bourgeault, Laura Spink, Terry Hart, Mary Bennett, Maryanne Gerard, Nancy Dutra, Eve Goldberg, Julie Kerr, Lea Dalgoy, Sarah Elizabeth, Amanda Rheame, Trish Murray, Rachel Barecca, Marianne Girard, Treasa Levasseur, Anita Lennon-Barlow, Tannis Slimmon, Brian Litvin, Victor Hugo Lopez, Rodrigo Muniz, Graydon James, Clela Errington… Discussion: Candace welcomed everyone, outlined ideas that are a starting…

  • Secret Frequency
    Articles,  Band Advice,  Events

    What goes in an EPK?

    It’s Autumn, the time of year when an artist’s thoughts turn to next Summer’s gigs.  You’ve come off the road for the year, and you want to make sure that the promotional material that you’re putting out there is working for you.  And you’re thinking of creating – or re-assessing – an EPK. An Electronic Press Kit is a page on your website that provides resources for bookers, media, and technicians.  My theory is that a website, overall, is for personal interaction with fans, but the EPK page on your website is for your professional interactions. It’s for someone in a hurry who sees literally thousands of band sites and just wants…