FOLK MUSIC ONTARIO

Sam Baardman is a singer-songwriter and visual artist living in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His music reflects a searching, inquisitive spirit, expressing compelling truths about our deepest questions and our most difficult challenges. A prevalent theme in Sam’s music has been environmentalism and the need to restore ecological balance in the world. He has penned songs about climate change, the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, the degradation of Lake Winnipeg, and other pressing issues, without being didactic or preachy. Environmentalism has been a focus of Sam’s visual art as well. As a fine art photographer, he is a co-founder of the River on the Run Artist Collective, a group of visual artists and poets working together since 2006 to address the global water crisis. Working in collaboration with biologists and climate scientists, their art investigates the increasingly fragile relationship between humans and their habitats. Sam is currently preparing to work on a new project collaborating with research scientists in the Global Water Futures Program.

Daniel Bellegarde has occupied the music scene as a freelance percussionist since 1984. He has participated in numerous tours in Quebec and internationally. In studio or in live performance, he has worked with several artists from different countries like Lokua Kanza, Beethova Oba, Francisco, Tanya Saint-Val, Marcos Valle, Mino Cinélu, Bet.e and Stef, Lorraine Klaassen, Wesli, Ernesto Dabo, Maxime Leforestier, Zachary Richard, Michel Rivard, Daniel Bélanger among others.He can be heard on more than 50 albums as a studio musician and on a dozen long and short film soundtracks including Black Soul and Un Dimanche à Kigali. The Canadian Recording Association awarded him a Gold Record for his work on Daniel Bélanger's album "Quatre saisons dans le désordre." His diverse career led him to return to the music that rocked his childhood, the music from Haiti and the French West Indies. Inspired by the writings of his grandfather on the history of Haiti and by his fascination with traditional music, the percussionist produced his first album Anba Tonèl (under the arbor). Winner of the Global Music Award in 2018 (USA), the album was nominated at the Canadian Folk Music Awards 2018 and the Independent Music Awards 2019 (USA). A graduate of the University of Montreal in sociology and communication, Daniel organizes Caribbean percussion workshops in schools for primary and secondary students classes. He also prepares interactive and therapeutic percussion sessions for people on the autism spectrum in several specialized community centers. He has studied with several music therapists including Bill Matney from the United States at the University of Ottawa on the therapeutic applications of percussion and its impact. In 2018, he was the spokesperson for the Quebec Intellectual Disability Week for the Laval region.

Melanie Brulée is an award-winning Franco-Ontarian artist, community leader, and mental health advocate born and raised in Cornwall Ontario. While her musical journey began busking on the streets of Australia, she now embodies multiple facets of the arts sector, taking a step away from the stage to amplify the music industry's underrepresented voice as the new executive director at the Ottawa Music Industry Coalition (OMIC). In addition to years of performing and touring, Melanie has worked as a consultant, mentor, booking and PR agent, as well as a radio promoter for Indigenous artists. Her passion for collaboration and advocacy has led her to initiate numerous projects including founding a women-led collective of songwriters, fundraising for mental health organizations, and developing youth workshops on songwriting and self-confidence. In her work as a dynamic organizer and facilitator, Melanie’s purpose is to unite and uplift the communities she serves.

After volunteering and falling in love with Estonian Music Week (EMW), Sebastian Buccioni became its first Executive Director. After successfully programming its first ever digital seasonin 2020, Buccioni was formally invited to add the artistic direction of the festival to his portfolio. Despite the challenges of the pandemic Buccioni successfully organized EMWs first hybrid music festival in 2021, connecting performers on two stages 6700 km apart in real-time through the power of live-stream. Buccioni takes a collaborative approach to programming, working with community groups to deliver meaningful content. Expanding EMW beyond programming, Buccioni is the driving force behind EMW's involvement in music import/export between Canada and Estonia. While active as a musician Buccioni was known for his work as a Hammond Organist and Keyboardist recording, touring and promoting the Julian Taylor Band, the Out of Towners and Chameleon Project. His compositional work has earned him a FACTOR and Canada Council for the Arts grant. Buccioni holds a BFA with specialization in music from York University and a Postgraduate Diploma in Arts Management from Queen’s. Buccioni is the president of the board with Toronto Operetta Theatre.

Liv Cazzola (Tragedy Ann, The Lifers) is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, educator, and earth advocate from Guelph, Ontario. Environmental activism is infused in her songwriting, audience engagement, and decisions made at home and on the road. Liv is a founding member of the Canadian chapter of Music Declares Emergency.

Rosalyn is the Executive Director of Folk Music Ontario. She excels as a community organizer and is passionate about helping folks build sustainable careers in the music industry. In 2016 Rosalyn co-founded the music company Stump Media, and in 2020 she co-founded The Arts Hub and Smiths Falls Music. Rosalyn worked for 5 years as the Outreach and Communications Coordinator for the Canadian Federation of Musicians, helping musicians navigate contracts and agreements, and advocating for stability in the literal 'gig economy'. Rosalyn enjoyed working for OntarioMusicLive.ca as Data Manager through an initiative of Music Canada, working to promote tourism and growth in Ontario's live music sector through outreach and development. During this time she also worked with the Canadian Live Music Association assisting in member data. Rosalyn spent 12 years as an internationally successful touring and recording artist, as a founding member of the band Oh My Darling. Rosalyn has been nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award for Best Roots Album "Oh My Darling" and "Sweet Nostalgia" and has released 3 highly acclaimed full length albums that have all reached the top of the Roots/Folk charts across Canada and Europe.DK).

Cindy is a registered psychotherapist (qualifying), a certified trauma-informed yoga teacher (RYT 500), a somatic body-mind centering coach, and an award-winning singer/songwriter. As a therapist, teacher, artist, and coach, she embraces how different every day and every moment is, and she allows the flow direction to come from the here-and-now. The journey is never linear, and it looks different for everyone; embracing individuality and the complexity of each person is essential.

Cindy will be facilitating group discussions in the Wellness Suite on Friday and Saturday of the FMO Conference.

Angelique Francis is a versatile and exceptionally gifted musician. This multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist, multi-genre singer songwriter and composer has wowed audiences across the globe with her electrifying performances, instrumental abilities and powerful textured vocals. Angelique has shared the stage/opened for a large roster of well-known musicians such as Gary Clark Jr, Joe Bonamassa, Eric Gales, Keb’ Mo’, Jimmy Vivino, Beth Hart, Tom Cochran, Burton Cummings, Sugar Ray and the list goes on. Born and raised in Ottawa Canada, Angelique is a naturally gifted musician, who first took to the stage at age 7 and at 13 years old she made her American national television debut on the Oprah Network, for writing and composing an original theme song for the Gayle King show. By age 13 she was proficient in playing other instruments such as the acoustic guitar, upright Bass, electric guitar and electric bass. By age 14 she was playing at music festivals across North America opening for a variety of acts such as Beth Hart, Trooper and Shameka Copeland. Angelique’s soulful Smoky vocals and instrumental techniques are reminiscent of a bygone era, but with a unique and modern sensibility. Over the past few years Angelique Francis has established herself as a bona fide star on the Canadian Blues, Soul, Jazz and Folk scene. In March of 2022 she released her most recent album “Long River”. This highly sought-after musician hosted the 2022 Maple Blues awards and was a feature act at the Keeping the Blues Alive at Sea festival (Miami to Jamaica), Grolsch Blues Festival (Germany), Sighisoara Blues Festival (Romania), Massey Hall, Montreal Jazz Festival, Mariposa Folk Fest, Calgary Folk fest and the list goes on.

Kim Fry lives in Kjipuktuk/Halifax in Mi'kma'ki. She works for the Ecology Action Centre, is a co-founder and board member for Music Declares Emergency Canada and works supporting and promoting emerging musicians. Kim lived in Tkaronto (Toronto) for 27 years where she was an elementary school teacher, union activist, climate justice activist and storyteller. When she has time, Kim is working on a novel about the climate emergency.

Ian Garrett is a designer, producer, educator, and researcher in the field of sustainability in arts and culture. He is the director of the Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts and Associate Professor of Ecological Design for Performance at York University, where he is Graduate Program Director for Theatre and Performance Studies. He is also producer for Toasterlab, a mixed reality performance collective. He maintains a design practice focused on ecology, accessible technologies and scenography.

Sarah Greene is a songwriter, writer, and arts administrator. She got her start in campus-community radio at CIUT 89.5 FM (hosting Roadrunner), studied journalism at King’s College in Halifax and wrote for Halifax’s The Coast. Upon returning to Toronto, she became a longtime regular contributor to NOW Magazine’s music section, and was the Wood, Wires & Whiskey editor for Exclaim! from 2014-2018. She served on the Polaris Prize Jury from 2015 - 2019. She now books Tranzac, a not-for-profit venue and arts incubator in Toronto, and as a bio writer has helped numerous artists answer the question, “What’s the Story”?

Steafan is a touring Technical Director for show like Menopause the Musical , Goldirocks, Reds in the Hood, Beanstock. He is also the Sound designer for Shape of Home, Currently at Crow’s Theatre Toronto, 4th Line Theatre, Rob Ford the Musical, Beauty and the Beast. He is a live audio engineer with credits such as Just For Laughs Montreal ,The Junos, Polky, Medusa, Mariposa, the Fretless, George Crotty , Sultans of String, Kevin Fox, Chris Langan weekend, Oireachtas Canada and at venues all across Canada. Steafan is also a performer, working with Come from Away, Loreena McKennitt, AfroCelts, Band ofHope Sin E, Lammas, Clan Hannigan.

Ebba Hellsten is the producer of the annual indoor Norrköping's Folk Music Festival. For the rest of the year she is central to the folk music scene in Östergötland. She’s part of several non profit organizations that work to keep Swedish folk music relevant. She’s also a fiddler and teacher, a leader of young musicians and organizers. She is one of the many passionate individuals who keeps the music industry in Sweden alive.

Janice Jo Lee (she/they) aka Sing Hey, is a contemporary folk artist of Korean settler ancestry. She is a folk-soul singer-songwriter, composer-sound designer, band leader, spoken word poet, actor, playwright, speaker and facilitator based in Tkaronto. Lee is a hard femme, queer, radical, comedian, truth-teller and satirist. On stage they create looping landscapes with their voice, guitar, trumpet and Korean janggu drum. Lee is a hard femme queer radical and on stage is known for being disarmingly hilarious, off-the-cuff and fearlessly honest. Lee's work explores gender justice, antiracism, friendship, community, ancestry and the Earth. Lee combines their literature, music and theatre background with their political activism to create art that engages through truth, comedy, lyricism and power. Genres and artistic disciplines do not limit them as a storyteller. They aim to think critically about how art functions within contexts of contemporary movements and community.

A passionate music enthusiast, Tamara has worked in arts management and community outreach for more than twenty years. Within the folk music world, Tamara has worn the hat of agent, artist manager, board member and festival executive director. In 2015, she founded Mavens Music, a full-service management company specializing in building internationally focused careers for folk, roots, and Americana artists. Her client roster includes: Corin Raymond, Kaia Kater and Lonesome Ace Stringband. She has participated as a panelist, showcase producer and mentor at Folk Alliance International, AmericanaFest, NERFA, APAP and the East Coast Music Week. In 2021, she founded the CreekSong Festival, a one-day outdoor event taking place on the banks of the Big Otter Creek in Vienna, Ontario.

Cameron Kennedy is the Director of Creative for SOCAN and is responsible for strengthening SOCAN's repertoire by developing and implementing the organizations creative strategies. This includes spearheading the negotiations of high-earning members, developing, and maintaining the member benefits and educational efforts. Prior to joining SOCAN he had more than 10 years of expertise in the music and entertainment world. He was most recently a partner of one-twenty-eight, a Toronto-based talent booking, cause marketing and CSR agency. As an Artist Relations and Partnerships specialist, Cameron curated musical talent and entertainment for arena events worldwide. He has also served as Music Supervisor at the City of Toronto responsible for discovering local, national, and international talent, while developing and curating music programs and policies.

Treasa Levasseur is currently the Program and Community Engagement Manager at Folk Alliance International, as well as a JUNO-nominated songwriter and seasoned sideperson. As passionate about community building as she is about music, Treasa also works as an artist educator with many organizations including Theatre Aquarius, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, and is grateful for all the learning she did as the coordinator of FMO's Developing Artist Program from 2014 - 2019. Treasa has recently been activated by the words of Margaret Killjoy: 'what if we replaced gatekeepers with ushers and helped people find where they belong?'

Dan Mangan is a two-time JUNO Award-winning and two-time Polaris Music Prize-nominated musician and songwriter. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with his wife and two sons. Mangan has toured extensively in North America, Europe & Australia. He has played Glastonbury & Jimmy Kimmel Live, collaborated with David Grohl, sold out Massey Hall and scored acclaimed soundtracks for television (Netflix, AMC) and feature films. In 2017, he co-founded Side Door, a community marketplace platform for the arts that seeks to democratize and decentralize the entertainment industry by allowing non-traditional spaces to be venues. Mangan’s 6th album, ‘Being Somewhere’, arrives in October 2022. Produced by Drew Brown (Radiohead, Beck), the album unfurls like an overdue conversation with a dear friend. It’s a combative plea for mercy from a manic world and its effects on the psyche. Forging sonics well beyond the tropes of modern folk music, the album features a global cadre of top tier musicians including Joey Waronker (Beck, Atoms for Peace), Jason Falkner (Beck, St. Vincent), Thomas Bartlett (The National, Taylor Swift), Dave Okumu (Arlo Parks, Adele) Mary Lattimore (Kurt Vile, Sharon Van Etten), & Broken Social Scene frontman Kevin Drew

Joni NehRita is singer/songwriter, producer, arranger and music educator. Her music blends soul, jazz & Afro-Latin/Caribbean rhythms while exploring themes of social justice, equity & cultivating compassion & imagination. Additionally, she is regularly a keynote speaker, panelist and workshop facilitator for topics including improvisation as a practice, anti-oppression & songwriting. Photo credit: Hilary Gauld.

Neil is an artist manager, artist-development specialist, and project manager working in the UK and internationally, with a particular interest in singer/songwriter, folk, and the wider roots genres. He manages John Smith and Rachel Baiman, and has worked freelance with a range of artists, including Rose Cousins, The Small Glories, Julian Taylor and more on projects including UK development, album release cycles, and career development.In addition to this he programs the UK suite at Folk Alliance.

Stefanie Purificati began her career as an agent in 2010 and recently helped open the Toronto office for APA Canada. She is a music industry veteran who got her start as the in-house talent buyer at the Drake Hotel. Her current roster includes iskwē, Shawnee Kish, Skye Wallace, Digging Roots, Riit, drag superstars Mo Heart and Tynomi Banks and many more. A highly active member of the community, Stefanie has sat on the Board of Directors for the Country Music Association of Ontario, worked for the Polaris Music Prize for a decade, and is a frequent panelist at conferences like Canadian Music Week, Breakout West, Halifax Pop Explosion, Line Check (Milan, Italy), Canadian Country Music Week and many more.

Anna Ruddick is a graduate of McGill university’s Jazz Performance program and postgraduate studies in Arts Administration and Cultural Management at Humber College. In her young career, Anna has risen to become one of the most in-demand and versatile bassists in Canada. She has performed on more than fifty studio albums spanning across many genres- a discography that includes multiple Juno award nominations and wins. In addition to her session work, Anna has performed live and toured with a who’s-who of Canadian and international artists notably City and Colour, Randy Bachman, Fefe Dobson, Erin Costelo, and Ian Blurton’s quartet Future Now. After over a decade as a full-time working musician, Anna is passionate about advocating for the financial and emotional wellbeing of Canadian Music Industry workers and has been working with The Unison Fund, Canada’s Music Charity since 2020, as Manager of Industry Relations.

Hilary Saunders is the managing editor at No Depression, the leading source for roots music journalism, and her previous work has appeared in Paste, ESPN, Next City, The Jewish Daily Forward, and more. She’s a proud member of the National Press Club and Society of Professional Journalists, an alumna of the University of Miami and University of Liverpool, and a unironic believer that rock and roll can save the world.

With over 20 years of diverse experience, Tara Shannon brings her creative talent, teaching insight and hands on approach to the table. Her training and experience as a recording artist, songwriter, sound engineer, producer and label founder brings patient understanding of the road ahead for every artist/writer she works with. Her business experience and entrepreneurial skill set from building companies from the ground up are valuable assets for those seeking long standing careers in the music industry. An artist herself, Tara is able to connect with the developing artist from a place of empathy, compassion and honest understanding.

Candace Shaw is a Feminist, Cultural Producer, and Activist who has been a fixture on the Canadian music scene for almost thirty years. She was the long-time Artistic Director for the Peterborough Folk Festival, Chair of the Shelter Valley Folk Festival, and Booker for the Music City Summer Series in The Distillery District, Toronto, amongst other roles.She is a thoughtful, engaging, and provocative commentator and advocate for women, the arts, and arts workers’ rights, and in 2019 was a candidate in the Federal election. Candace is the founder of Secret Frequency.ca, a not-for-profit advocacy and education organization working with under-represented people in the Canadian music industry.

Emy Stantcheva is Executive Director of MusicOntario, the provincial Music Industry Association (MIA) dedicated to supporting the grassroots growth of Ontario’s music sector. Since joining the organization in 2013, Emy has overseen its operations, communications, marketing, funding, policy, and programming, fulfilling the association’s mission to create opportunities for emerging artists and music entrepreneurs through professional development, advocacy, and access to resources. Coming from a slew of roles at the Canadian Independent Music Association, Emy believes strongly in the value of trade organizations to educate and empower. Under her leadership, the organization has curated and delivered more than 250 events across 37 cities, seven provinces/states, six countries and two continents in support of developing Ontario’s music community.

@musicontario