Bull’s Eye is a new Indigenous music talent search developed by the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in partnership with Slaight Music for Bull’s Eye. According to a press release, Bull’s Eye “seeks to nurture Canada’s newest music talent with unprecedented opportunities, including a $10,000 cash award, to turn their talent into a career.”

Canada’s aspiring Indigenous musicians are encouraged to submit a track of their original work through the Bull’s Eye website. Applications are open until August 31. If selected, finalists will be promoted through imagineNATIVE’s social networks leading up to the 17th annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, happening October 19-23, 2016. During the week of the festival, the final nominees will be announced, and the Bull’s Eye contest winner will be awarded at THE BEAT, imagineNATIVE’s annual music showcase.

In addition to promotional opportunities, the Bull’s Eye winner will receive $10,000 towards the production of the artist’s first official music video, and the chance to travel with imagineNATIVE’s annual Film + Video Tour in 2017, to promote the video to Indigenous communities across Canada. The winner will also receive professional recording sessions with an established Canadian producer for up to three original tracks.

Derrick Ross, President of Slaight Music, explained that “Slaight Music is proud to support and evolve its partnership with imagineNATIVE in 2016 with Bull’s Eye which will give new Indigenous music artists across Canada unprecedented access and resources to showcase their talent and turn their artistic passion into a career. We are very excited to partner with imagineNATIVE on this unique initiative.”

FYI interviewed imagineNATIVE Industry Director Daniel Northway-Frank on the project yesterday. He noted that “We are excited about the evolution of our relationship with Slaight Music, a long-time supporter of the festival. We wanted to find something that married their growth in supporting indigenous music talent paired with opportunities for the musicians to develop media arts creation skills.  A music video does both these things. This partnership provides professional development both in front of and behind the camera.’

He describes the reaction to Bull’s Eye as enthusiastic. “I see this as planting a seed in this melding of music and media arts that we hope to grow with Slaight over the coming years. This is rather a pilot project, and the response to it already indicates that this is an area in need of support. We’re glad that we can provide that, together with Slaight Music.”

For more information, go here