March 24th, 2021 (OTTAWA) – A March 2021 survey released today on Parliament Hill reveals that 60% of Canada’s hardest hit businesses will not survive if the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) as well as the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) are not extended beyond the June 5th deadline to the end of the year. The survey with over 1,700 respondents from across Canada was conducted by the Coalition of Hardest Hit Businesses.

The Canadian Live Music Association (CLMA) has partnered with NVision Insight Group to offer The Path: Your Journey through Indigenous Canada, an Indigenous cultural awareness training program, for the live music industry. Designed by NVision, this certificate course meets various Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Calls to Action for Canadians to receive cultural competency training by teaching about “the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal– Crown relations.” This training is for anyone committed to creating a stronger Canada, a more compassionate Canada, and a Canada of empowered Indigenous communities.

The people behind Canadian live music have launched an awareness campaign to bring attention to the damage COVID-19 shutdowns have caused Canada’s live music industry - the artists, festivals, venues, promoters, clubs, concert halls, arenas, talent agencies, unions, crew and many others working in the supply chain that connect Canadians with extraordinary live music experiences.

Live music was the largest single driver of the music industry. In the fall of 2019, global revenues were projected to reach $29 billion US dollars by 2023 1 . Today, the story is a very different one. In Canada, this vibrant industry contributed upwards of $3b to Canada’s GDP and supported 72,000 jobs – the lifeblood for many of our artists… for whom touring and live performance was their primary source of revenue. Live music workers, companies and organizations will be among the last to recover, with still no end in sight.

As we look back on 2020, many things come to mind. But what stands above for me is the way we have come together as a community - to fight together, to help each other, to find our way...to not just survive, but determined to thrive, despite the crushing reality live music is facing.

The purpose of this Request for Proposals (RFP) is to identify a contractor to conduct a national research project on the impact and representation of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) live music workers in Canada. The contractor will be required to work in collaboration with the CLMA and its partners, advisory council, and additional consultants retained by the association (see Section 3) to provide a high level of service in a cost-effective manner.

Canada’s live music community has received an early holiday gift thanks to the generosity of Ottawa-based supply chain software company, Kinaxis® Inc. (TSX:KXS).