Ontario Creates 2019 JUNO Awards Nominees Reception

Last night was an Ontario Creates invitation only event at The Lounge at Live Nation designed to celebrate the 2019 JUNO nominated artists.  

Speeches were kept to a minimum. At one point during the evening Karen Thorne-Stone, President & CEO, Ontario Creates briefly introduced, then handed the microphone over to, Allen Reid, President & CEO of CARAS (photo above).  

(In an effort to take JUNO nominated artist Tyler Shaw's advice, I'm not going to Overthink  this post.  I'm going to give you some of the amazing highlights of Allen Reid's brief but very informative speech.)  

Allen thanked Karen for the introduction and Live Nation for hosting.   He congratulated all the JUNO nominees.  "There were 2800 submissions for this year's awards.  (The number of submissions have doubled over the last seven years.) There are 188 nominations for the JUNO's this year and a 104 are from Ontario.  That's almost 60% of the nominations" from this province.  

"There is no question that what Ontario Creates and the Ontario government do to support our music sector has a direct impact on the opportunities for these artists. It also has allowed us to have the JUNO's return to Ontario on a regular basis."

"The JUNO's are a lot more than an awards show."  We want to make sure we are supporting and investing in our artist to help them grow their business.  

CARAS does this through their four pillars of programming.  They educate through Music Counts, develop careers through the Master Class along with Juno TV, celebrate the artists through the JUNO awards, and honour the artist, "our icons", through Canadian Music Hall of Fame.  The goal of CARAS is to be with you for your entire music career.  Beginning when you pick up your first instrument in school.  Hopefully, up until you, get into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. 

"It's not just about being a nominee.  It's not just about winning. My favourite thing about what the JUNO's actually is … is camaraderie.  This is one of the few times that our entire industry gets to gather (especially the artists) all in one place."   

The city of London is "on fire" preparing for their very first opportunity to host the JUNO's .  The entire community is engaged.  You can't go anywhere in London without knowing that the JUNO's are coming. Many of the JUNO associated events are already SOLD OUT.      

In conclusion, I too would like to congratulate all the JUNO nominated artists.  I would also like to congratulate London because you are going to have a WICKED  time. Cheers!    

(Some photos from the red carpet can be found on my Instagram.)