A new music festival in Sudbury is creating opportunities for Canadian artists, audiences, organizers say

Organizers of a  new music festival taking place March 13 in Sudbury say it will give audiences a chance to check out  their favourite artists and discover new ones while also helping to build the Canadian music industry and create opportunities for Indigenous artists.

The Madwewetoon Indigenous Music Festival will feature Order of Canada recipient, Tom Wilson, Juno nominee, Logan Staats, northern Ontario singer-songwriter, Mimi O'Bonsawin, Toronto pop artist, Thea May and Toronto duo Wampums.

Admission is on a pay-what-you-can basis.

"My hope ... would be that … you come to the show excited to see the artist that you know, but then be open to discovering an artist that you may fall in love with,"  said Matt Maw,  president and lead artist manager at Red Music Rising, an Indigenous record label and management company that is one of the partners in the festival.

"I think that's probably one of the driving factors of why I do what I do in the music industry. It's just that discovery or that element of discovery."

Canadian festivals have struggled since the pandemic with rising production costs, declining volunteer numbers and more frequent severe weather disruptions, leading some to shut down, scale back, or pause operations.

Opportunities amid challenges for Canadian live music

Canadian artists have, in turn, struggled with a declining number of venues and festivals to play at, coupled with rising visa costs associated with touring in the U.S.

What's more, some, including one of Maw's clients, have cancelled concerts in the U.S. in response to the policies of the Trump administration. 

But those challenges also create opportunities for smaller events such as Madwewetoon, Maw said.

"Mid-March in Ontario is not what people think of as … festival season, but I think there's a real opportunity for … what's sort of being built here outside of the traditional festival model," he said.

"It's an opportunity … specifically for showcasing Indigenous artists for Indigenous and non-indigenous audiences. And we're also … creating again more opportunities within our own country for our own people – be that … Canadians or Indigenous artists – in lieu of having to seek gigs south of the border."

Madwewetoon grew out of a similar event, the Minoshkite Indigenous Music and Arts Festival, that has taken place for the past two years in Ottawa.

O'Bonsawin played that festival in October.

She said she's looking forward to the Sudbury show because it's an opportunity to ease back into touring after a period of "hibernation."

"We finished a tour in Australia in January, and we've been in album mode," she said.

"It feels appropriate to be gathering with my fellow Indigenous artists – lots of them are my friends – to just kind of try to get back into the tour mode."

O'Bonsawin typically performs a homecoming show in the spring, she said.

The festival is taking place a little earlier than her typical homecoming event, but she said it feels like a good way to return to performing before she embarks on a busy tour schedule in British Columbia. 

"When you're touring, you have this really reliable muscle memory," she said.

"And then, as you stop touring and you shift gears into the studio or resting or anything, it takes a little bit to kind of shake off the dust … not that I think we're going to be dusty at all – but it just feels nice to kind of ease back into that, so I'm really excited."