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  • Canadian Festival Report Card
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Grade A Festivals, Saskatchewan

Regina Folk Festival

The Regina Folk Festival (Regina, SK) August 7-9, is held annually in Victoria Park on the weekend following the long weekend in August, and is a much-anticipated and immense celebration…

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July 22, 2020
Articles, Band Advice

A brief commentary on band websites and bios

I get a bit frustrated when I’m working to promote a band and they don’t have what I need in an easily-accessible format.  Considering that all promoters are looking for…

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February 29, 2016
Grade A Festivals, New Brunswick

Tay Creek Folk Festival

Started in 2008 by Jenifer Jobbins, the Tay Creek Folk Festival (Tay Creek, NB) July 17 – 19, is an annual opportunity for New Brunswick musicians to gather & perform…

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April 29, 2020
Big Ideas

Notes from FMO meetup

Canadian Women in Music Meetup Friday, October 17, 4:30pm Folk Music Ontario Conference Notetaker: Trish Facilitator: Candace Shaw Attendees: Enid Carol Goodman, Gabrielle Papillon, Corinne Rose, Allison Brown, Suzi Wilde,…

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October 24, 2014
Grade A Festivals, Ontario

Hillside Festival

The Hillside Festival(Guelph, ON) July 24-26, is a three-day, multi-stage event with a broad artistic vision that emphasizes diversity: of culture, of musical heritage and style, of age, geography and…

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June 10, 2020
  • Wavelength Winter Festival
    Grade A Festivals

    Wavelength Winter Festival

    February 5, 2020 /

    Wavelength Winter Festival has received an ‘A’ on the Canadian Festival Report Card for the past three years. Visit their website for tickets and lineup info for 2020!

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    Candace 0 Comments

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    Real Love Summer Festival

    June 17, 2020

    Hillside Festival

    June 10, 2020
    Tottenham Bluegrass Festival

    Tottenham Bluegrass Festival

    March 25, 2020
  • 2019 Canadian Festival Report Card
    Canadian Festival Report Card

    2019 Canadian Festival Report Card

    January 21, 2020 /

    The 2019 Canadian Festival Report Card is here! Canadian Festival Report Card: 2019 Highlights 54 festivals were graded at an ‘A,’ down from 57 in 2018 (booooo) 116 festivals were graded Every province and territory in Canada is represented in this report card, for the third year in a row. However, many of the provinces/territories only have a few festivals listed, and we need to work in future to increase the numbers of festivals graded. As a group, these 116 festivals get an ‘A’ grade, booking 46% women-identifying or non-binary artists (up from 43% women-identifying or non-binary artists in 2018) This is a heartening result, as it means that overall,…

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    Candace 0 Comments

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    Eaglewood Folk Festival

    2015 Festival Report Card

    September 12, 2015
    Canadian Festival Report Card

    2014 Canadian Festival Report Card

    September 12, 2014

    2017 Canadian Festival Report Card

    November 12, 2017
  • Uncategorized

    Criteria – Canadian Festival Report Card

    January 21, 2020 /

    Canadian Women Working in Music releases an annual report card scoring festivals on the gender parity and gender representation in their lineups. We call for Canadian festivals to ensure that 50% of all bands/artists in their lineups be either led by women-identifying, transgender, or non-binary people. For the purposes of this research, CWWIM defined “Women fronted” “Transgender-fronted,”or “non-binary fronted” bands as any band appearing at a festival which was: a solo woman-identifying, transgender, or non-binary performer a duo or trio with at least one woman-identifying, transgender, or non-binary performer a larger group in which a woman-identifying, transgender and/or non-binary people play a significant role (more than a backup singer or…

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    Candace 0 Comments

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    Canadian Festival Report Card

    2014 Canadian Festival Report Card

    September 12, 2014
    MarieLynnHammond-photo-by-Kate-Morgan-Images-300x195

    2016 Canadian Festival Report Card

    December 10, 2016
  • 2019 festival report card
    Canadian Festival Report Card

    The Big Count – 2019 Festival Report Card

    June 18, 2019 /

    We need your help with The Big Count 2019 for the Canadian Festival Report Card!La traduction française suit ci-dessous (nos excuses pour le mauvais français!) You can find the form to submit a festival here. As we’ve done for the past few years (2016, 2017, 2018), we’re collecting data on festivals and music series to find out how many women-identifying, transgendered, and non-gender-binary people are being presented at festivals and concert series across Canada. This year we’ve also added a category for other visible minorities, like racialized and Indigenous people. What we need from you is to choose a festival, give us a link to their lineup online, and a count…

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    Candace 0 Comments

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    Eaglewood Folk Festival

    2015 Festival Report Card

    September 12, 2015

    The Big Count 2018 – Canadian Festival Report Card

    April 27, 2018

    A short list of women and gender non-conforming Canadian artists

    April 8, 2018
  • 2018 festival report card
    Articles,  Canadian Festival Report Card

    2018 Canadian Festival Report Card

    March 6, 2019 /

    The 2018 Canadian Festival Report Card is here, and the results are heartening. Canadian Festival Report Card: 2018 Highlights 57 festivals were graded at an ‘A,’ up from 34 in 2017 113 festivals were graded Every province and territory in Canada is represented in this report card As a group, these 113 festivals get a ‘B’ grade, booking 43% women-identifying or non-binary artists (up from 36.5% women-identifying or non-binary artists in 2017) This is a big improvement, but we have questions: are women getting headlining slots? Are racialized and LGBTQ artists getting booked? Are women, racialized people, and LGBTQ people getting paid equally in comparison to their white, straight, Cis,…

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    Candace 0 Comments

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    Listening to 2012 Festival Submissions: Part 3

    June 3, 2013
    Musicians: It's worth paying artists - Chris Culgin CD - album art by Brendon Mroz

    Musicians: It’s worth paying artists.

    September 17, 2014
    On not getting gigs or grants - ChocQuibTown at The Distillery District

    On not getting gigs or grants.

    July 30, 2015
  • BAND PROMO 101
    Events

    Workshop: Band Promo 101 – Toronto

    March 6, 2019 /

    BAND PROMO 101 – A workshop to help you stop pissing off bookers and promoters and get more gigs.Saturday, March 23, 12:30pm – 4:30pmTrinity-St. Paul’s United Church and Centre for Faith, Justice and the ArtsThis venue is physically-accessible. The closest subway station is Spadina.We encourage women, racialized people, LGBTQ people, to attend. Workshop Fee $50; limited scholarships available. Contact candace@secretfrequency.ca for details BUY TICKETS HERE Promoters, Bookers, Agents, and Publicists may love your music, but may be quietly cursing you as they try to promote you. Do you have your promotional materials in place? Are they the right things? Do you know what you need? Do you know why it’s…

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    Candace 0 Comments

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    Music City – A strategy

    April 7, 2016

    The Check-In – August 2020

    August 1, 2020
    Secret Frequency

    What goes in an EPK?

    October 15, 2014
  • Secret Frequency
    Grade A Festivals

    CWWIM changes to Secret Frequency

    March 5, 2019 /

    It’s time for a change that reflects our expanded goals, and while we will continue to advocate for women in the Canadian music industry, we feel that our mandate should be much broader and allow us to advocate for under-represented people in the music industry as a whole. So we’re changing our name, from Canadian Women Working in Music to Secret Frequency – it will reduce confusion with other advocacy groups in Canada, and ensure that you find us when you look for us. Secret Frequency has existed in some form or another for nearly twenty years, as the online home for Candace Shaw and the artists she has worked…

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    Candace 0 Comments

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    Block Heater

    Block Heater

    February 12, 2020

    Summerfolk Music and Crafts Festival

    July 29, 2020

    Lunenberg Folk Harbour Festival

    July 15, 2020
  • Articles,  Big Ideas,  Canadian Festival Report Card

    The Big Count 2018 – Canadian Festival Report Card

    April 27, 2018 /

    We need your help with The Big Count 2018 -for the Canadian Festival Report Card! La traduction française suit ci-dessous (nos excuses pour le mauvais français!) As we’ve done for the past few years (2016, 2017), we’re collecting data on festivals and music series to find out how many women-identifying, transgendered, and non-gender-binary people are being presented at festivals and concert series across Canada. What we need from you is to choose a festival that doesn’t appear on the list below and give us a link to their lineup online and a count of the number of women-fronted, men-fronted, transgendered-fronted and non-gender-binary-fronted people are included. It can be a festival that…

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    Candace 0 Comments

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    Ideas: the difference between a folk festival and a music festival

    November 12, 2013

    10 Things I Want Musicians to Know

    May 10, 2012
    Fuck Instrument Thieves - Hug_a_Guitar_by_MyCameraIsSuicidal

    Fuck Instrument Thieves

    February 22, 2014
  • Artists,  Big Ideas,  Canadian Festival Report Card

    A short list of women and gender non-conforming Canadian artists

    April 8, 2018 /

    ETA: Because this is awesome, we’re creating an accessible database for Trans folks, Non-Gender-Binary folks, and Women to add themselves and/or their bands so that bookers can find them.  We launched it in Winter 2020; you can check it out here (and also add yourself or your band!).  All of the artists in this short list are also in the database! ETA 2: When this post was originally published in Spring 2018 on our old website, it generated 138 replies from members of the community, listing more than 600 artists and bands.  We’ve collected this information in the database above, and are looking for volunteer to help flesh out the…

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    Candace 0 Comments

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    Evangeline-Gentle

    Artist Spotlight: Evangeline Gentle

    June 4, 2020
    kimmortal

    Artist Spotlight: Kimmortal

    February 28, 2020

    Artist Spotlight: Ursidae

    April 9, 2020
  • Canadian Festival Report Card

    2017 Canadian Festival Report Card

    November 12, 2017 /

    The 2017 Festival Report Card is here! For the past twenty years, the music industry has seen its stages dominated by men in most genres and scenes.  With the exceptions of the occasional women-focused festivals, like Lilith Fair, women have tended to see very little representation on stages, and nowhere is that more noticeable than at a festival, where sometimes hours can pass before a woman, a racialized person, or an LGBTQ, Two-Spirited, or Gender Non-Binary person walks on stage as a member of a band. With that in mind, we’ve been tallying up the numbers, and are presenting them below. We’d like to give a huge thank you to…

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    Candace 0 Comments

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    Eaglewood Folk Festival

    2015 Festival Report Card

    September 12, 2015
    MarieLynnHammond-photo-by-Kate-Morgan-Images-300x195

    2016 Canadian Festival Report Card

    December 10, 2016
    2019 festival report card

    The Big Count – 2019 Festival Report Card

    June 18, 2019
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We sing on a Secret Frequency

Secret Frequency (formerly Canadian Women Working in Music) is and education and advocacy not-for-profit dedicated to raising the profile of under-represented people within Canada’s music community – women, trans and non-binary folks, racialized and Indigenous people, and more.

We’d like the music community to be as awesome as it pretends to be.  We want it to be a safe, good place to party, to create, and to work.

We’re ready to rock the boat, even if it’s the boat that some of us are sitting in; no organization or individual should be above question or consequences.

If you don’t invite us to the table, we’ll show up anyway, and we’ll bring our own chair.

We produce the annual Canadian Festival Report Card, grading Gender representation on Festival stages, skills workshops, research, and more.  We aim to create initiatives with demonstrable, measurable impact, which are also accessible and modular, designed to be shared and implemented by other organizations.

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