Musicians, industry professionals and music fans have arrived in Kelowna, B.C., for BreakOut West, a yearly four-day music industry conference and music festival that culminates in the Western Canadian Music Awards.
Each year, a different Western Canadian host city is selected, and 2023 is Kelowna’s third turn at making the city into a music hub. It successfully hosted BreakOut West on two previous occasions in 2010 and 2018.
The three-night music festival portion of the event begins on Thursday and more than 60 acts from across Canada, as well as the U.S., Sweden, Iceland and Hong Kong, will be performing at venues across the city.
The winners of the 2023 WCMA Industry Awards will be announced on Saturday at the Delta Grand Okanagan.
Mike Dawson, the executive director of the event, said there’s a lot of music industry collaboration during the event, not just performances.
“There’s about 900 one on one meetings that happen between artists and industry at the event and then there’s a mentor piece as well,” Dawson said.
“So a lot of our delegates who are coming in and are paired up with an artists, and they have an opportunity to have a pre-meeting and then they spend a little time here together.”
Then they get to see the artist perform.
“So it’s sort of that guidance and advice (piece),” he said.
“It’s about really trying to break down some of the access to information barriers that artists everywhere, but sometimes particularly in the west, experience.”
That it’s all held in Kelowna is a boost to the city, as well.
“We love seeing Kelowna animated in a positive way for our residents. BreakOut West definitely does that, and it also helps to highlight some of the incredible talent, venues and culture we have here in our city,” Chris Babcock, event development supervisor with the City of Kelowna, said in a statement when the festival was announced.
“We also know it has a long-term net positive impact on our community.”
Working closely with partners Tourism Kelowna and the City of Kelowna, a host committee consisting of Creative Okanagan and a small group of community volunteers have spent considerable time completing a host bid, competing against other potential host communities, to secure the event.
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