Innovation Centre to host Ottawa as a Music City panel

Juno Week is fast approaching with several events leading up to the Canadian music awards ceremony Sunday, April 2 at the Canadian Tire Centre.

One of those events is coming to Kitchissippi Ward on April 4 as the Innovation Centre at Bayview Yards will be hosting a seminal panel discussion on the future of Ottawa as a Music City.

Sitting as the Mayor's representative on the Juno Host Committee, I've been fortunate to help plan (and provide some financial support to) what should be a great event as momentum continues to build to establish a great music scene in Ottawa, with strong support from the City.  I hope you can join Mayor Watson and me at this event.

Doors open at 10am, the panel runs from 10:30am to 12:30pm, to be followed by a question and answer session.

Moderated by CBC’s Giacomo Panico, this discussion will hear from five panelists:

• Amy Terrill, Executive Vice President of Music Canada - Amy is the lead author of The Mastering of a Music City, a globally acclaimed study that identifies the key elements and benefits of a music city along with effective strategies to build the sector at the local level.

• Scott May, owner/operator Bar Robo - Scott's lifelong love of music and coffee has led him to open Bar Robo in Ottawa's Chinatown. Scott's passion to deliver an outstanding customer encounter was gleaned from a lifetime of sales and marketing experience combined with exhaustive research. His obsession with food and drink is marked by his almost daily intake of both. An accomplished DJ, Scott was instrumental in forging a link between hip hop and Easter.

• Kelly Symes, General Manager, Festival of Small Halls Ontario - Kelly is the local program coordinator for Ottawa Bluesfest and CityFolk and also oversees the organization's newest festival, the Ontario Festival of Small Halls, taking place from September 14 - October 2 in over 30 communities across Eastern Ontario.

• Kathleen Edwards, singer/songwriter/entrepreneur -  In the years following her breakout debut album Failer (2003), sophomore release Back To Me (2005) and Asking For Flowers (2008), Kathleen’s songs have topped the Billboard charts, been featured in the pages of Rolling Stone, Spin, The Guardian, graced the cameras on Austin City Limits TV, The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, as well as earning her several Juno nominations, and shortlist for Polaris Music Prize. In 2014, Kathleen took a short break from life on the road to pursue other passions and opened up coffee shop in her hometown of Stittsville, pulling inspiration from the great cafés she discovered along her travels around the world. With tongue in cheek, she named the shop “Quitters”, and it’s become a fixture on the Ottawa foodie scene since the day it opened.

• Shelley Fraser - Director, Marketing and Communications, Lixar - Happily leading a team that loves to create, ideate and innovate. Have the privilege of both private tech sector business and parliamentary political experience.

Ottawa has the opportunity to utilize its local music industries to attract business, professional talent, create enviable quality of life, and generate economic activity. From fostering and retaining local artists to building a rich sector ecosystem, this panel will explore the role that all stakeholders can play in building a Music City.

There's further details here.