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For the last 37 years I have made my living working with music. Not just any music…mainly I have worked purveying in various contexts that elusive body of disparate sounds that have come to be called Folk Music, World Music and Jazz.
I started in this curious profession as a founder and the co-coordinator of the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. That was in January of 1978. In that capacity I produced the first two Vancouver Folk Music Festivals. In the fall of 1978 I started to produce concerts. This was a logical outgrowth of the first Folk Music Festival. In 1980 I founded the Vancouver Folk Music Festival Society, Aural Tradition Records, and Festival Distribution. I was both artistic director and coordinator of the festival and the society. In that capacity for the next decade and a half I produced and booked an annual festival and hundreds of concerts. Festival Records evolved into a major distributor of independent releases and dozens of labels from around the world, while Aural Tradition released a couple of dozen fine recordings. We also booked tours for artists in the early 80’s and toured a number of international artists in the 90’s as part of their participation in the Vancouver festival. Over those years I worked with thousands of artists. Some have gone on to international renown; others remain great but obscure. It was a privilege. In addition to my work for the festival and its ancillary activities, I spent 4 years on a part time basis developing the program for and then producing, the Folklife Pavilion for Expo 86, Vancouver’s world’s fair. I did some radio series for the CBC, and had a regular show on the local community station. I sat on committees and boards, and generally shot my mouth off.
In 1993 I decided it was time for a change. The Canada Council for the Arts had decided to hire a new program officer to provide support for touring artists performing Folk, Jazz, and World music. I applied for the job and got it. I moved to Ottawa and spent the next 6 years immersed in the world of government. It was fun. I created new programs to support managers and agents, to help artists develop their careers, to fund festivals, and to send Canadian artists outside Canada. I was able to develop and help realize a national showcase for culturally diverse and aboriginal artists and an international showcase in Germany for aboriginal artists. I also helped organize the first union that organization had seen and was elected the first president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada local there. From June of 1999 until April of 2000, I was the acting head of the Music Section.
On May 1st, 2000 I submitted my letter of resignation to the Canada Council. I’m an old socialist and Mayday seemed like a good day to announce my liberation from Ottawa and the bureaucracy. It was time to come home to Vancouver, time to work less, time to work only on things care deeply about and with artists whose music I am passionate about.
In the 14 years since I returned to Vancouver I have been working on a history of folk music in English speaking Canada (www.folkmusichistory.com), working with a dozen or so artists, whose music I love and doing bits of programming, organizing and facilitating workshops, producing the occasional concert and generally doing well while doing good. There are lots of details on my resume, if you are interested. In 2007 I began teaching a little bit at Capilano College. Now I teach quite a bit at Capilano University. I teach Touring, Artist Management and an introductory course in Arts and Entertainment Management. I also teach a course in Canadian Cultural Policy and another in Career Development in the Bachelor of Performing Arts Program run by Capilano University, Douglas College, Vancouver Community College and Langara College. That has become the biggest part of my work but I still love to do as well as teach.
This web site is here to feature what I am up to as a manager, what the artists I work with are doing, and any other music business related stuff I get involved in. It’s also there as a kind of lure. Hell, I’m a small business these days and am always interested in a lucrative, creative, integrity ridden project. Now you know my story. Let me hear yours.
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