Peak Performance Project bootcamp

We’ve started day 3 here at the camp and you can follow all the fun at www.peakperformanceproject.com

We’ve got photos, video, blogs from all the artists, and a whole lot of tweets.

Office Closure

Please note that the Music BC office will be closed starting Wednesday August 26th and will re-open Tuesday September 8th with normal business hours. We are sorry for any inconvenience!

Western Canadian Music Awards & festival set to descend upon Kelowna in 2010

City of Kelowna to welcome over 300 music industry delegates, and performances by some of Western Canada’s finest artists.

(Kelowna, August 24, 2009) After much anticipation we are excited to announce that the 2010 Western Canadian Music Awards have been awarded to Kelowna. This is an exciting opportunity as it is the first time Kelowna will host a major music event of its type. The event consists of three main components: a conference, festival and awards show, with all three components open to the public. Mark your calendars for this large scale music event to be held October 14 -17, 2010.

The WCMAs provide participants opportunities to share knowledge of the music industry, enjoy the talents of Western Canadian artists and collectively celebrate great achievements in the industry. The festival will showcase local Kelowna and British Columbian musicians as well as those from the Yukon, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. The next big musical acts are consistently invited to play the festival. Over three nights the festival will feature over 70 bands playing in venues across the city, making the WCMAs one of the hottest tickets in town. The weekend will be capped when the hardware is handed out at the WCMA Awards Gala.

The bid to host the awards has been in the works since January 2009. The momentum of the work first went public when the bid was unanimously supported by Kelowna City Council in June with a commitment of one third of the funds to be raised by the host committee.

“As a key supporter of the bid and the event, the City of Kelowna is looking forward to extending a warm welcome to all of the artists and industry professionals involved in the 2010 Western Canadian Music Awards. It’s a valuable opportunity to showcase our vibrant live music community and give them a chance to grow and learn from the best. Our performers, venues and volunteers are all eager to start pulling the details together,” Sandra Kochan, Cultural Services Manager, City of Kelowna.

The event will have a significant economic impact when more than 300 delegates from all of western Canada and the Yukon descend on the city for five days in a tourist shoulder season. Hosting the event will contribute to putting Kelowna on the map as a key music industry hub and tour stop, creating long term impacts.

“We are very excited to be bringing the WCMAs to Kelowna for 2010. The community has shown an incredible commitment to the award show, festival and conference. For BC, the WCMAs is a great post-Olympics event,” Bob D’Eith, President of WCMAs.

Western Canadian Music Awards
October 14 -17, 2010
Kelowna, BC

-30-

For more information contact the following members of the Kelowna bid committee:
Quinn Best, 250-718-3999
Karma Lacoff, 250-864-6869

Or contact:
Rick Fenton, Executive Director, Western Canadian Music Alliance, 204-943-8485
Amanda Schweers, Music BC Industry Association, 604-873-1914

Call To Action!

Call to Action

The BC Government plans to cut funding to Arts and Culture by up to 50% on September 1, 2009.  This may mean 100% cuts to some organizations like Music BC.

The present funding freeze and cuts will have a direct impact on Music BC:

• MITAP $100,000 travel assistance program

• WCMAs Provincial partnership support $40,000

• Next year’s Music BC operating funds of $45,000+ are in jeopardy

There are two ways we are asking for your support:

1.If you are a performer – On Saturday August 29th, as a show of solidarity, we are asking all artists to perform 50% of a piece, and tell the audience why you stopped.

2.You can also send a letter, and keep sending letters, talking about the impact of proposed funding cuts on your community by writing to pertinent elected officials. Office addresses on each elected official’s web pages (emails below).   Make sure these arrive by August 26th at the latest to have an impact on this decision.

Arts – Minister Kevin Krueger – Kevin.kruegermla@leg.bc.ca
Premier Gordon Campbell – premier@gov.bc.ca
Minister of Finance Colin Hansen colin.hansen.mla@leg.bc.ca

We ask your support in taking the message to your local MLA – if at all possible, in a face-to-face meeting. Clearly these funding issues affect many arts organizations in the province. To get more information on your local MLA, you can go to http://www.leg.bc.ca/MLA.

We feel it is vital to make the business case for continuation of funding – how many dollars does your organization contribute to your local economy; and what the impact is, both financial and cultural on your audiences and artists. The Alliance for Arts and Culture quantifies the provincial impact of the arts at 80,000 jobs and $5.2 billion annually. You need to tell your financial and job story.

As a guide, you may use the following template, but feel free to add you own experiences and testimonials.

Template:

[What has MITAP done or could do for your career? How have the WCMAs effected your career? How has Music BC effected your development as an artist? Why is Music BC so valuable to the music community?]

I work in the BC music industry and am directly impacted by decisions made by the BC Provincial Government in regard to provincial funding to arts and culture.

All other Provinces in Canada and the Federal Government have maintained or increased funding to Arts and Culture during this difficult economic time. Investment in the Creative Economy will stimulate economic recovery and growth in BC. Many studies have proven that an investment in the arts always brings a greater return in tax revenues than the investment.  Investing in the Arts is a good investment for BC. Arts and Culture is important to all BC residents.

Music BC Industry Association is a non-profit provincial music industry which works tirelessly to enhance the BC music industry and the lives of the musicians in BC. I support funding to Music BC and hope that any funding decisions will ensure that funding to Music BC continues and is increased. In particular, I urge the BC government to do the following:

• Operating Funds. Maintain or increase operating funding to Music BC. The present $45,000 per year is essential to the operations of Music BC. Music BC provides services to the BC music community which not only help BC artists, but also the BC economy. This year, Music BC brought the 2009 JUNO Awards to Vancouver which brought in over $10 million in economic impact to the region. Music BC is administering $6 million over 7 years for the Jim Pattison Broadcasting Group to help develop BC artists. The BC government needs to continue to support Music BC and its endeavours.

• Renew MITAP. Maintain or increase funding to the $100,000.00 MITAP travel assistance program. With dramatic changes occurring to the music industry due to the internet and other technologies, live performance and touring has never been more critical in the development of recording artists. MITAP’s $100,000 per annum travel assistance funding has helped many artists to take part in career leveraging tours of Canada and the World. Losing this program would indeed be a major blow to BC artists. At present, the fund is frozen. We urge the government to renew this vital program.

• Support the Western Canadian Music Awards. All other WCMA partner provincial governments have increased funding to the WCMAs. The BC government has reneged on its promised funding for 2008 and frozen any further funding to the WCMAs.  The WCMAs are scheduled to come to Kelowna, BC for the 2010 WCMAS. In order to ensure that the other provincial governments will support having BC artists attend this event in Kelowna, I strongly encourage the BC government to support the WCMAs.  The Western Canadian Music Awards are very important for our artists to be celebrated nationally and internationally. The WCMAs routinely brings in many foreign buyers to Western Canada in order to work with BC artists. Last year, the government of BC reneged on its promise to fund the inter-governmental partnership funding of $20,000 for the 2008 Edmonton, Alberta WCMAs. At present, the BC government has not responded to repeated requests to help fund the 2009 WCMAs in Brandon, Manitoba. With all of the other provinces committing to increased funding to the WCMAs at this time, I urge the BC government to support this vital partnership.

Thank-you for considering these funding requests. In the grand scheme of things, the above funds represent a small part of the Arts and Culture budget, however these funds are leveraged dramatically by Music BC to bring the biggest return on investment possible.

The 2009 Western Canadian Music Awards weekend is just a month away!

The 2009 Western Canadian Music Awards weekend is just a month away!

Hotels are filling up quickly so now’s the time to register as a delegate if you haven’t already done so.

The 2009 Western Canadian Music Awards will be held September 18-20.  Hosted at the Keystone Center and the Canad Inns Hotel in Brandon Manitoba.

The WCMA’s will feature an Industry Conference, Music Festival, Industry Brunch as well as the Western Canadian Music Awards Gala.

To purchase a full delegate pass (which will allow you access to all the events) please complete and submit the registration form available at www.westerncanadianmusicawards.ca/conference

Nominees, please note the price for nominees to register is $200.  Please clearly mark “Nominee” on your form to obtain the discount.

Festival performers, please note that solo performers who were selected for this year’s festival will receive one (1) performers delegate pass, which will allow access into the festival and conference for the weekend.

Bands selected to play the festival will receive two (2) interchangeable performers delegate passes, which will also allow access into the festival and conference for the weekend. Any additional band members will receive complimentary festival passes. Any additional passes to attend the conference or awards show can be purchased separately.

If you have any questions regarding delegate registration please contact Darcie at darcie@wcmw.ca or 204-943-8485.