NEWS RELEASES
TOWN OF COLLINGWOOD
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After three years of the Live & Original (L&O) Music Series, and a growing “alumni” base of songwriters and performers, the L&O concept has also grown.
In 2018, a number of changes will be coming to the L&O Music Initiative, including the L&O Music Crawl, featuring more than 30 performances by L&O artists as part of the sixth annual Art Crawl. On Saturday, Sept. 22, the new L&O Music Crawl will be partnering with the popular Collingwood Art Crawl to offer an evening full of culture, music, and exploring our community.
The Collingwood Art Crawl is a free, self-guided art walk, featuring more than 100 artists at multiple venues, with live music and incredible art, all in downtown Collingwood.
“The partnership with the town is ideal,” said Collingwood Art Crawl co-founder and organizer Andrea Rinaldo. “Collaborating with the Live & Original Music Crawl will complement the Art Crawl, maintaining the highlights that attendees expect each year such as the variety of art and music, and, of course, a few unexpected surprises!”
Now in its sixth year, the 2018 event will take place on the first day of autumn from 6:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m., alongside the newly-introduced Live & Original Music Crawl.
In 2018, the Collingwood Art Crawl will again include a number of “Unmissables”, special events, presentations and competitions as well as after-parties with live music and great conversation. Established in 2013 with eight venues, 30 artists and about 300 attendees, the 2017 Collingwood Art Crawl was a banner year with 50 venues, more than 100 artists and musicians, and an attendance of 3,000.
The Live & Original Music Crawl is a new event being produced by the Town of Collingwood under the umbrella of the Collingwood Live & Original Music Initiative (L&O). L&O was launched in 2015 as a competition and workshop series that celebrated finding musical creativity and innovation at the grass-roots level. Evolving over time, today its purpose is to provide opportunities for music creators to connect, collaborate, and cultivate the development and sustainability of original music.
For more information including how to get involved, click here and here.
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After three years of growth, the Collingwood Live & Original Music Series is undergoing a number of changes in 2018.
“When we started L&O our goal was to create an environment where singer-songwriters could connect and where the struggle and complexity of creating new original music could be shared,” said Karen Cubitt, Manager of Culture & Events for the Town of Collingwood. “We chose a competition format because it was something we knew how to do well and it provided the vehicle to get artists connecting with one another.”
Now, with a growing “alumni” base of songwriters and performers, the concept and team behind the L&O Music Series has grown. Collingwood also took part in the Simcoe County Music Strategy project, which revealed L&O’s full potential to be a catalyst for original music development.
“When we sat down with this large group of music creators from the area, both at the Music Strategy session and afterward, we realized that the L&O concept had so much more to offer artists than the competition component,” says Dean Collver, Director of Parks, Recreation, and Culture (PRC) for the Town of Collingwood.
In 2018, L&O will no longer feature a competition between artists, but rather will become a series of opportunities for music makers to “Connect, Collaborate, and Cultivate” the creation of music. The Live & Original Music Series is to be renamed the Live & Original Music Initiative to more fully reflect L&O’s change in direction.
Capitalizing on the exciting new relationship between PRC and the Simcoe Street Theatre, the Live & Original Music Initiative will be offering “MusicLab Mondays” starting in April. MusicLabs will exist to provide a space for music creators to collaborate with one another, share ideas, and test out new sounds, with the perfectly-sized Simcoe Street Theatre as the venue.
MusicLab Mondays
Simcoe Street Theatre (April 16, May 14, June 18, July 16, Aug. 20, Sept. 17)
An open-house/stage format with a host who will encourage conversations, jam sessions, lyric and melody development, instrumentation discussions, and good old fashion song testing.
The L&O MusicLab Mondays will culminate in the L&O Music Forum in September. This will be a conference-style event featuring workshops, mentorship opportunities, learning experiences and opportunities for collaboration. Globetrotting Irish/Canadian contemporary folk artist, Irish Mythen, will join other mentors and discussion leaders to provide insights, encouragement, guidance, and “tales from the road” to forum participants.
Live & Original Forum (Sept. 21-23)
Friday night will be a networking social event with workshops kicking off Saturday at brunch. Saturday evening will be the L&O MusicCrawl throughout the downtown area. Sunday will once again start with a brunch leading to an afternoon of mentorship and development through collaboration.
As part of the Collingwood ArtCrawl, there will be a performance opportunity for 30 of the music creators attending the Forum, called the L&O MusicCrawl. The L&O MusicCrawl will take place on the first day of fall, Saturday, Sept. 22; details to follow.
MusicCrawl (Sept. 22 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.)
Throughout Downtown Collingwood
Enjoy performances by 30 of the artists attending the L&O Forum, as part of the annual ArtCrawl event. Explore historic Downtown Collingwood to the sounds of amazing live and original music.
The Collingwood Live & Original Music Initiative is produced by the Town of Collingwood with generous support from Living Water Resort & Spa and a team of valuable community partners within the music industry. Learn more here.
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