It's not easy being an artist these days. While the "DIY" music industry model has allowed may indie artists to find widespread recognition and success they might not have had back in the days that record labels were the driving force behind it all, it's also required artists to be their own managers, marketers, PR representatives, and more. It can be overwhelming when you just want to make your music!
While Toronto and Montreal have long been considered the music capitals of our country, Vancouver has been quietly growing, developing, and quite frankly, killing it these days. In an effort to provide such support for Vancouver’s artists in the Wild West that is today's music biz, Rise & Shine Seminar was born. It's all going down February 25 and 26 at Fortune Sound Club, and will give Vancouver’s rising artists and creatives a forum for collaboration and learning from some of Canada’s key music industry players. Specifically focused on R&B, rap and dance genres, the event will feature showcases from some of Vancouver’s top talents, as well as workshops on such topics like music distribution, how to create and foster community, branding and marketing, booking shows and grant funding. Also making an appearance are local heroes So Loki, who we have featured a number of times on Complex.
Rise & Shine is the brainchild of Matt “Kutcorners” Perry, DJ/producer and one half of Live Evil, and Nancy Lee, co-founder of multidisciplinary electronic music and art collective Chapel Sound. Lee is also one of the co-founders of CURRENT, a multi-day symposium dedicated to women and non-binary people in the electronic arts. “There is a wealth of talent in Vancouver which is really only now starting to get noticed," says Kutcorners of the event's inception. "Nancy Lee and the Chapel Sound collective have been a steady platform for highlighting these emerging talents for years. We really hope to stimulate collaboration and the economy of rap, R&B and dance music in Vancouver. I really want to celebrate the people that make Vancouver a very special place in the world and shine a light on how bright a future we can have.”
Rise & Shine is free and open to all ages, so make sure you registerif you're located in or around the Vancouver area and you're down with gaining a bunch of (free) knowledge when it comes to music and arts in your city.
