The Canadian Live Music Association’s seventh annual General Meeting was held on Tuesday, Sept. 21st. The AGM was an opportunity to take a look back at one of the most difficult years in the history of Canada's live music sector as well as welcome incoming board leadership.

"During the past year and more than anything, COVID-19 has underscored the importance of building and using our collective voice. With the support of our over 300+ members, we continue to lead the sector through one of the great crises of our lifetime," says Erin Benjamin, President & CEO of the CLMA. "Our impressive #FortheLoveOfLIVE campaign, with a reach of over 60 million (and counting), is just one example of how the CLMA has helped to amplify the ongoing impact of the pandemic over the last year and a half. From the federal budget to provincial reopening frameworks, municipal music cities strategies to local restrictions - the CLMA has been proactively and fiercely advocating on your behalf. We are here today for our members, and we will be here tomorrow, to help usher in our brighter collective future."

During the meeting, the CLMA highlighted several keyadvocacy successes including:

- Emergency funding to live music sector, festivals in"Phase 2" 2020 and again in the 2021 Federal budget, with $70Mearmarked for live music including music venues after 30,000+ constituentletters were sent in support of the CLMA's pre-budget submission, leveraging#ForTheLoveOfLIVE;  

- Groundbreaking CLMA campaign#ForTheLoveOfLIVE/#PourLAmourDeLaSCENE has seen a reach of over 60M, leadingto:

- Jagermeister x #ForTheLoveOfLIVE: Venue funding programproviding $1000 grants to 100 music venues across Canada;          

- $2 Million in support from the Ministry of Heritage, Sport,Tourism and Culture Industries, leveraged for the (national) Unison Fund;  

- Kinaxis InConcert, a partnership with Canadian supply chaintechnology firm Kinaxis, injecting $250K into programming livestreams acrossCanada. An additional $30K in funding was provided from FACTOR to continue thisimportant work.

- National research study "Closing the Gap: Impact andRepresentation of Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour Live Music Workers inCanada".

- Efforts with the Coalition of Hardest Hit Businesses,leading to the extension of CEWS and CERS programs into October 2021, andformation of targeted support measures like the $181.5M Hardest Hit SectorsCredit Availability Program (HASCAP).

"As we look ahead to an uncertain future, the CLMA will continue to fight for your survival for as long as it takes to put the pandemic behind us, while not losing site of other critical issues ranging from the insurance crisis to the important and desperately needed work to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in the live music ecosystem," says Jesse Kumagai, CLMA Board Chair and President & CEO, The Corporation of Massey Hall & Roy Thomson Hall.

The Canadian Live Music Association also announced its newly and/or re-elected 2021-2022 Board members:

Vanessa Arscott, Plan V Productions
Kerry Clarke, Calgary Folk Festival
Marlin Jones, FM Systems
Victoria Lord, Edery & Lord Communications
Robyn Stewart, Western Canadian Music Alliance and Breakout West

The CLMA thanks outgoing Board members for their contributions:

Tao-Ming Lau, Blue Crane Agency
Melissa Bubb-Clarke, MLSE
Katy Venneri, The JUNO Awards

The CLMA's full 2021-22 Board can be found here.

Read the Annual Report in English here.

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