CIMA & MusicOntario AGM: Big Policy Wins and Big Changes
The Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA) and MusicOntario held their Annual General Meeting (AGM) Wednesday, Sept.
By External Source
The Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA) and MusicOntario held their Annual General Meeting (AGM) Wednesday, Sept. 30, at Toronto’s The Hideout, where members, stakeholders, and supporters gathered to celebrate accomplishments from the past year, listen to some high-grade indie music, share stories, do a bit of business and take a guess as to what’s in store in the year ahead.
As well, the announcement of a new Board of Directors, modernization of its governance model and shared advice from two keynote speakers.
The AGM was kicked off with a well-received performance by London, ON’s Indigenous electro-pop artist Wolf Saga, followed by a keynote address by Kristin Grant, CEO of Westcott Multimedia and a Forbes magazine contributor, where she discussed how data is changing the independent music industry.
Next up was a presentation by Jeffrey Crossman, Trade Commissioner, Creative Industries at Global Affairs Canada, where he discussed export support for cultural entrepreneurs. The event wrapped up with a theatrical performance by Toronto-based indie band Whiplash Girlchild.
The event included the election of a new CIMA Board of Directors for 2020–2021, as well as remarks by CIMA's outgoing Board Chair Lisa Logutenkow and MusicOntario Executive Director Emy Stantcheva. The speakers covered significant changes to CIMA’s bylaws, highlighted CIMA's numerous export missions and the decision for MusicOntario to separate from CIMA over the next two years.
“This is a momentous time for MusicOntario, as we embark upon structuring the next stage of our governance and strategizing how our organization will continue to collaboratively and proactively serve our members, constituents, and the music community in Ontario at large,” says Emy Stantcheva, Executive Director of MusicOntario.
Logutenkow highlighted some of CIMA’s recent policy wins. With the help of its members, CIMA led a strong campaign requesting additional funding for the Canada Music Fund (CMF), which proved to be successful when a $20-million increase over two years was announced in this year’s federal budget.
Logutenkow also reminded the room of CIMA’s success in re-establishing funding for music videos when the CRTC committed approximately $13.5 million over three years to English market music programming through FACTOR. She continued with highlights of CIMA’s policy goals for 2020, including continuing to advocate for the $10-million increase to the CMF to be made permanent, as well as advocating for additional funding for the industry’s music exporting initiatives through the CMF.
When speaking about CIMA's export initiatives over the past year, Logutenkow listed some impressive accomplishments. Under CIMA's international banner of Music Export Canada, CIMA organized and executed a total of 18 export missions in 19 cities and 8 countries in which 217 companies participated, and 108 artists and bands were showcased.
Reflecting on the evening, CIMA President Stuart Johnston says: “As her term has come to a close, I’d like to thank the Chair of CIMA’s Board of Directors, Lisa Logutenkow. Her leadership and wise counsel has led our team through a challenging but successful three years.
"On behalf of the Board, and the CIMA membership as a whole, I want to thank Lisa for her dedication and the great job she has accomplished in her term as Chair. We look forward to your ongoing involvement as an affiliate member of CIMA in her new role.”
In business matters, CIMA’s members approved significant Bylaw changes that serve to modernize the governance of the organization.
Key Changes include:
Changing the language to make the bylaws gender neutral
Adding another member category – Friends of CIMA, to expand CIMA’s offerings to a broader industry which works with, in and supports our music ecosystem (CIMA is currently working on details and pending launch)
advertisementChanging the governance structure in several ways, including changing the Board composition to 15 elected Directors for three-year terms, with two annual appointments
A new Board of Directors was elected to helm CIMA through 2020-2021. Out of a pool of 18 candidates, the following 10 were elected:
The following Directors were newly elected to the CIMA board for 2020-2021:
Asim “Awesome” Awan – (Awesome Music & Management)
Erin Kinghorn (eEk Productions)
Heather Crane (Dine Alone)
Lisa Logutenkow (The Orchard)
The following Directors were re-elected for another term:
Chris Moncada (Last Gang Entertainment)
Jake Gold (The Management Trust)
Iain Taylor (Cadence Music Group)
Kieran Roy (Arts & Crafts Productions)
Sandy Pandya (Pandyamonium Artist Management)
Shauna de Cartier (Six Shooter Records)
The following Directors will remain on the 2020-2021 Board, as they are still serving their two-year term:
Anne Vivien (Musique Select Inc)
Gord Dimitrieff (Aporia Records)
Justin West (Secret City Records)
Mathieu Drouin (Crystal Math Music Group)
Michelle Szeto (Paquin Entertainment Group)
Peter Cardinali (Peter Cardinali Productions/Alma Records)
Simon Mortimer-Lamb (Nettwerk Music Group)
Tim Potocic (Sonic Unyon Records)
