London’s first-ever Music Career Day is giving high school students a chance to speak with and hear directly from music industry professionals in panel discussions, presentations and break-out sessions.
Cory Crossman, London’s music industry development officer, says there are a ton of opportunities out there if you want to work in music.
“That’s what the day is about, opening up people to the career paths, whether you have a formal education or you just want to jump in, there’s a lot of ways you can do it.,” says Crossman.
“Music is an all encompassing area that includes so many different careers. It’s a powerful industry and we’re finally starting to consider it as an industry, rather than just a hobbyist kind of thing.”
Officials say live music alone contributes over 20,000 jobs to the Ontario economy each year, and there’s roughly 875 students studying music in London alone.
Crossman says they’ve invited some special guests from out of town and will had local industry leaders as well.
“They’ll be talking about their career paths and journeys about how they got started and how they got to where they are now. We have some panel discussions and artist performances, I’m really excited about the breakout sessions and one-on-one mentoring,” said Crossman.
“There’s definitely been events focused on careers and hot to grow the industry, but nothing like this. Stuff in the past has been more focused on music, this is about the broader industry and the support system.”
Some of the panelists included musicians Matt Powell, Dayna Manning and Khardiac.
Crossman says they geared the event around high school students interested in pursuing a career in music, but it was open to anyone.
They capped preregistration at 190 people because they wanted to keep it as intimate as possible.
He says they also hold weekly panels and discussions, more information can be found on the London Music Office website or on twitter.
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