This Monday, October 6th, the launch of the brand new Music Immigration platform took place at the Conseil des arts de Montréal. This is the result of several months of work, surveys, questionnaires, and action research conducted by Caroline Marcoux-Gendron, associate professor in the Department of Music at UQAM and postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Management at HEC Montréal. She was supported by Hortense Dubus, research assistant and doctoral student (UdeM), Brazilian artist Mônica Freire (UQAM), Marie-Jeanne Blain (UdeM/UConcordia/IRMS), and Myriam Zmit (UdeM).
Among the partners in this ambitious project are the Quebec Music Council, SPACQ-AE, the Social Centre for Immigrant Assistance (CSAI), the Carrefour Jeunesse Emploi de Portneuf and, of course, the Montreal Arts Council.
After the obvious observation that it was difficult for immigrant musicians to find their way around when they arrived in Quebec, this platform aims to centralize all useful information in one place and according to 8 categories. Among these, we find the creation and production of music, distribution, financing an artistic work or knowing your rights as an immigrant musician. For each of the 8 tabs, an exhaustive list of resources is offered with complete fact sheets.
There is also a dictionary including all the vocabulary used in the Quebec artistic community which can be very useful for newly arrived musicians.
Another section of this platform is dedicated to events aimed at musicians, professionals in the cultural and immigration sectors and employment assistance, as well as researchers interested in issues related to the professionalization of immigrant musicians. Conference cycles, workshops, commented performances, in short, the platform has just been launched and the coming months are already full of activities.
Finally, all the documentation is accessible in the tab bearing the same name, and it includes in particular the report on the professionalization paths of immigrant musicians in Quebec, which is at the origin of this initiative.
This platform should be replicated in all provinces of Canada and, why not, internationally as well. It responds to a pressing need experienced by many musicians who are not only faced with uprooting upon arriving in a new country but also face barriers when it comes to making a living from their profession. A platform like Musique Immigration clearly meets this need.
For more information: musique immigration
Photo Credits: Peter Graham
