CONVENE Podcast Watrvision Creative

In this episode, we spoke to Mason Windels, Co-Founder of Summer Cool Creative Agency and the Montreal-based web radio station n10.as. Mason Windles shared his journey growing his business, amplifying artists, and advocating for infrastructure changes in Montreal. Given Mason’s experience managing distribution and product order fulfillment logistics for artists, he offered a fresh take on what improvements are needed within Canada. Mason also shared a common sentiment: the greatest way to curb burnout and build sustainable careers is to address the overall lack of infrastructure and investment in the Canadian music industry.

In this episode, we connected with Kevin Amougou who is a Montreal-based artist manager, and is the founder of the music management company NOTE (Next One to Enjoy) and the label Coat on Club. Kevin has been making moves and building bridges since his early days as a club promoter. From Kevin’s perspective, several elements such as access to information and intergenerational mentorship are needed to build the music scene in each city. While Kevin acknowledges that cross-city and bilingual collaborations are slowly happening, he explains that one of the most challenging barriers from a Montreal perspective in building an ecosystem is the lack of institutional recognition that is given to R&B and Hip Hop.

In this conversation, we spoke to DJ Pøptrt, who is an Indigenous DJ and artist from the Mohawk Nation of Kahnawake. DJ Poptrt brings a very important and overlooked perspective to this conversation regarding collaboration and language barriers, specifically in the ways they impact the Indigenous cultures living near both Montreal and Toronto. She explains that the Francophone language barrier not only challenges the connection between the Anglophone artists and talent in Montreal but also, the Indigenous artists, leaving their history, their art, and their stories out of Canadian art, music, and culture on many levels. DJ Poptrt is passionate about the role that knowledge sharing and community development plays in building a music ecosystem and developing artists on an individual level.

In this episode we spoke with FLOW 93.5FM on-air personality and “Made In Toronto” host, Ricochet on his role as a culture curator shining a spotlight on the city’s talent and advocating for Black music in Canada’s radio industry. Although many would say that radio is fading as a medium, Ricochet believes that commercial radio will evolve, adapt and continue to be a valuable discovery platform for local artists in each respective city. He shares his opinions on why this is important, especially given the scarcity of Hip Hop outlets at the commercial radio level in Canada. Ricochet also talks about the misperceptions and disconnect between the music landscapes in Toronto and Montreal and how that is a barrier to collaboration. As a suggestion, Ricochet shares his thoughts on how influential Canadian artists and platforms can play a role in influencing culture and collaboration between Montreal and Toronto.

In this episode, we speak with Toronto-based Producer Junia T about the valuable learnings gained through his debut album Studio Monk in 2020. He shares key insights on his collaboration philosophy — humanizing, grounding, and preparing a space that is free for creativity to flourish, while also prioritizing investing financially into each collaborator, recognizing their value and paying them at their rate. In respect to the Montreal/Toronto ecosystem, Junia T highlights the DJ and Party scenes of each city as major facilitators in establishing connections and promoting discoverability. Staying close to his roots in the studio, Junia T also offers suggestions on how studio spaces can become key contributors as physical spaces where talent can connect, where the community can be built and art can be made.

In this episode, we spoke with Montreal-born and raised Naya Ali about how she is intentionally paving the way for herself in a market with substantial gaps in support and infrastructure for Anglo rap artists. Naya Ali has taken initiative to lead cross-city and bilingual collaborations with producers and artists from Montreal and Toronto. She also speaks on how this approach leverages the uniqueness and diversity that each city is known and loved for, ultimately making music that can resonate on an international level.