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  • Eaglewood Folk Festival
    Canadian Festival Report Card

    2015 Festival Report Card

    September 12, 2015 /

    In 2015, two volunteers collected data on festival lineups in our second iteration of the Canadian Festival Report Card. This report graded Ontario festivals on gender parity on their stages. Here are the results: A    45% – 50%+ (2 festivals) Home County Music & Art Festival ON – 61.11% Summerfolk ON – 60% B    35% – 44% (3 festivals) Hillside Festival ON – 38.10% CityFolk ON – 37.84% Live From The Rock Festival ON – 36.84% C    25% – 34% (2 festivals) Eaglewood Folk Festival ON – 33.33% Mariposa Folk Festival ON – 30% D – 15% – 24% (1 festival) Northern Lights Festival Boreal ON –…

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    Candace 0 Comments

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    2019 Canadian Festival Report Card

    2019 Canadian Festival Report Card

    January 21, 2020

    The Big Count 2018 – Canadian Festival Report Card

    April 27, 2018

    2017 Canadian Festival Report Card

    November 12, 2017
  • On not getting gigs or grants - ChocQuibTown at The Distillery District
    Articles,  Band Advice

    On not getting gigs or grants.

    July 30, 2015 /

    The work I do means saying “No” a lot more than “Yes.” Whether I’m working as a booker or jurying a grant or award, the ability to say no clearly, politely, and unequivocally is one of the most valuable skills I’ve developed. As AD of the Peterborough Folk Festival, I’d generally get about 700-1000 submissions from musical acts, and I’d have 25 or so slots to fill.  At minimum, I’d be listening, evaluating, and saying “No” 675 times to hopeful artists who’d poured their time, energy, sweat, and cash into their work.  The jury for Artsweek Peterborough ((A festival which I saved from certain death, restructured, and ran for 2 years.)) got…

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    Candace 4 Comments

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    Help Me Promote You

    October 10, 2012

    Ideas: A small-town musical roadshow

    October 3, 2013
    Secret Frequency

    What goes in an EPK?

    October 15, 2014
  • Folk Alliance International Showcase
    Events

    Folk Alliance International Showcase

    February 17, 2015 /

    We’re heading on down to Kansas City in February with 3,000 of our closest friends and folkies to the Folk Alliance International Conference.  Secret Frequency’s own Candace Shaw will be there, presenting a showcase room of Trad & International artists. Private showcases are the gem of music conferences; they are the late-night, hotel-room, no amplification opportunities for artists to play to a very, very intimate crowd – as many people who can cram into a hotel room.  The next room over, there’s another band showcasing, and on and on, filling two full floors of the hotel with music and promoters and DJs and more.  You’re up against If you can…

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    Candace 0 Comments

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    Workshop: What Bookers Want – Band Promo 101 ONLINE

    March 10, 2020
    Canadian Festival Report Card

    2014 Canadian Festival Report Card

    September 12, 2014
    BAND PROMO 101

    Workshop: Band Promo 101 – Toronto

    March 6, 2019
  • Alys Robi
    Big Ideas

    Women in Music Database

    October 31, 2014 /

    One of the discussions that arose from the Women in Music at FMO meetup in October was that a lot of women in the industry are looking for other women to work with – as producers, as side players, etc.  It also seems to me that conferences and festivals who are asked or challenged on the issue of gender parity often say things like ‘We can’t find enough women to fill these spots.’ So with the aim of helping each other and promoting women in music, I’m gathering a database of women and the things they do in the music industry.  Paid or volunteer, it doesn’t matter; if you identify…

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    Candace 0 Comments

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    Some thoughts about - and a good, green idea for - Music Submissions

    Some thoughts about – and a good, green idea for – Music Submissions

    April 22, 2016

    The Big Count 2018 – Canadian Festival Report Card

    April 27, 2018

    Music City – A strategy

    April 7, 2016
  • Big Ideas

    Notes from FMO meetup

    October 24, 2014 /

    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, Nicole Colbeck, Emily Mitchell, Kathleen Merrett, Joanne Mill, Sarah Beatty, Mimi Shaw, Jayne Mitchell, Francine LeClair, Kristine St. Pierre, Shawna Caspi, Heather —, Leah Morise, Mike Bourgeault, Laura Spink, Terry Hart, Mary Bennett, Maryanne Gerard, Nancy Dutra, Eve Goldberg, Julie Kerr, Lea Dalgoy, Sarah Elizabeth, Amanda Rheame, Trish Murray, Rachel Barecca, Marianne Girard, Treasa Levasseur, Anita Lennon-Barlow, Tannis Slimmon, Brian Litvin, Victor Hugo Lopez, Rodrigo Muniz, Graydon James, Clela Errington… Discussion: Candace welcomed everyone, outlined ideas that are a starting…

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    Candace 2 Comments

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    Some thoughts about - and a good, green idea for - Music Submissions

    Some thoughts about – and a good, green idea for – Music Submissions

    April 22, 2016

    The Big Count 2018 – Canadian Festival Report Card

    April 27, 2018
    NXNE PRESENTS A SAUSAGE FESTIVAL - Electric City Magazine

    NXNE PRESENTS A SAUSAGE FESTIVAL

    July 8, 2016
  • Secret Frequency
    Articles,  Band Advice,  Events

    What goes in an EPK?

    October 15, 2014 /

    It’s Autumn, the time of year when an artist’s thoughts turn to next Summer’s gigs.  You’ve come off the road for the year, and you want to make sure that the promotional material that you’re putting out there is working for you.  And you’re thinking of creating – or re-assessing – an EPK. An Electronic Press Kit is a page on your website that provides resources for bookers, media, and technicians.  My theory is that a website, overall, is for personal interaction with fans, but the EPK page on your website is for your professional interactions. It’s for someone in a hurry who sees literally thousands of band sites and just wants…

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    Candace 0 Comments

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    Listening to 2012 Festival Submissions: Part 2

    June 3, 2013

    A brief commentary on band websites and bios

    February 29, 2016
    NXNE PRESENTS A SAUSAGE FESTIVAL - Electric City Magazine

    NXNE PRESENTS A SAUSAGE FESTIVAL

    July 8, 2016
  • Canadian Festival Report Card
    Canadian Festival Report Card,  Events,  Uncategorized

    2014 Canadian Festival Report Card

    September 12, 2014 /

    In 2014, we made out first (of, hopefully, many) attempts to capture the data behind how many women are appearing on festival stages in Canada. We asked for volunteers to submit stats for festivals, looking primarily for how many bands played each festival, and how many of those bands were fronted by women.   Here are the results: A    45% – 50%+ (2 festivals) Home County ON – 55.56% Wavelength ON – 50% B    35% – 44% (3 festivals) Summerfolk ON – 40.48% Montreal Folk Festival PQ – 40.91% Winnipeg Folk Festival MB – 40.48% C    25% – 34% (2 festivals) Sappyfest NS – 25.81% Wintergreen Concert…

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    Candace 0 Comments

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    2018 festival report card

    2018 Canadian Festival Report Card

    March 6, 2019
    2019 festival report card

    The Big Count – 2019 Festival Report Card

    June 18, 2019
    Eaglewood Folk Festival

    2015 Festival Report Card

    September 12, 2015
  • My Rules - The Boxcar Boys
    Articles,  Big Ideas

    My Rules

    April 29, 2014 /

    I’ve been a music booker for a while now, ((People have even paid me to do it at places like The Montreal House, The Peterborough Folk Festival, Harbourfront Centre, and The Distillery Historic District.))  and over the years I’ve developed some guiding practices that govern most of what I do – something I think of as my rules for booking. I tend to stick to these rules because they work, and because whenever I’m unsure, I’ve got them to point to true north. Other bookers are their own people, and I neither expect that they’d adhere to this exact set of ideas nor do I think any of these are…

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    Candace 4 Comments

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    Listening to 2012 Festival Submissions: Part 2

    June 3, 2013

    The Big Count 2018 – Canadian Festival Report Card

    April 27, 2018
    Musicians: It's worth paying artists - Chris Culgin CD - album art by Brendon Mroz

    Musicians: It’s worth paying artists.

    September 17, 2014
  • Ozere
    Artists,  Ontario

    Artist Spotlight: Ozere

    November 8, 2013 /

    For the duration of my life, guitars have driven almost all of the music around me.  Whether they be sensitive strummers or wailing rock gods, they’ve been sort-of inescapable.  And as I’ve moved through different jobs as a music booker, I’ve found my ears got kind-of worn-out on the guitar; even great players rarely catch my interest.  It often feels like the possibilities of the guitar have been explored, past the comfort of familiarity and straight on to dull repetition, especially in the Folk community. ((Sorry, dudes, it’s just… y’know. I still love a lot of guitar-playing acts; it just rarely gets me all excited to hear a new guitar-based…

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    Candace 1 Comment

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

    April 8, 2018

    Artist Spotlight: SATE

    May 14, 2020

    Artist Spotlight: Rakkatak

    May 28, 2020
  • Band Advice,  Events,  Ontario

    Folk Music Ontario Conference

    October 8, 2013 /

    The Folk Music Ontario Conference ((Formerly the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals!)) is an annual event that draws just under a thousand artists, presenters, and other music industry people to hang out together, jamming, learning, and talking music for four days every October.  It’s always a highlight of the year, a chance for bookers, promoters, writers, and DJs to hear some of the best emerging touring acts in one place over one weekend in one hotel. This year, the conference takes place in Mississauga, Ontario. Secret Frequency founder and writer Candace Shaw will be in all of her usual haunts at the conference – wherever there’s good music or good…

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    Candace 0 Comments

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

    Musicians: It’s worth paying artists.

    September 17, 2014
    Some thoughts about - and a good, green idea for - Music Submissions

    Some thoughts about – and a good, green idea for – Music Submissions

    April 22, 2016

    A brief commentary on band websites and bios

    February 29, 2016
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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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