SYDNEY, N.S. — When the East Coast Music Awards last came to Cape Breton in the spring of 2016, there were hundreds of musicians and music industry professionals everywhere, coming from around the world to attend crowded workshops, showcases and events.
That was pre-COVID-19.
Expect things to be a little different this year when the awards take place in Sydney, May 5-9.
“We dug into the reality of what this is looking like and we are looking at making some changes,” said ECMA chief executive officer Andy McLean on Thursday from Halifax. “It will be a hybrid event. Hybrid is the key word. Health and safety will be number one. We’ll be making it safe for everybody following whatever rules are put into place so we can comply to make it a safe event — we have to take that direction. We are moving ahead to do that.”
By hybrid, McLean acknowledges some of the events, such as the conference and the export program, will be about 70 per cent held online.
“We’re not going to have international delegates flying in,” he said. “I think we’ve pretty much resolved to that. It’s highly unlikely we’ll be having (people from) cross-Canada. If we get the Atlantic bubble back and realistically I think that is possible by the spring, then it would be an Atlantic-based event with people coming in from the region.
“We’ll just take it one step at a time and prepare to adapt and move into whatever direction that we’re allowed to go.”
McLean is still smarting from having to cancel last year’s event in St. John’s, N.L. ECMA events take between two and two and a half years to plan and implement and having to cancel last year’s event just weeks before was a serious blow.
“For the first time in 32 years, I was the one, on my watch, who had to cancel the ECMAs — it had never happened before,” he said. “And that was terrible for the city of St. John’s. We did everything we could … but there wasn’t really an opportunity to reschedule since we work such a long way ahead.
"Fredericton for 2022 is already locked up and Halifax for 2023, so we did what we could and we’ve been reinventing ourselves in every way ever since that. For the last six, seven, eight months really, we’ve been innovating and taking everything online.”
St. John’s ended up doing a virtual awards show later in the year but steps have already been made to line up Centre 200 for this year’s main award show. A seating plan has been sent to the province for approval and McLean is optimistic there will be some showcases scheduled as well although actual numbers aren’t known yet.
McLean is optimistic the May event will go ahead as an Atlantic Canada hybrid event but says everything is dependent on what happens with the ever-changing COVID-19 situation.
“We’re not being irresponsible, we’re taking directions from all the authorities but ultimately there is a bigger picture which is the recovery of our industry and bringing live music back,” he said. “We’re walking that line and we’ll continue to follow the instructions — our team is incredible and we’re able to be innovative and improvise as we go along.”
McLean sees the ECMAs as one of the first steps in reviving the music industry, which was hard hit by the pandemic. Most musicians saw their incomes and performance opportunities disappear as communities went into lockdown and concert venues were closed by restrictions.
“The theme for this year is Road To Recovery,” said McLean. “The music industry has been decimated. 2022 realistically is when we’re looking to book now and 2021 is about our road to recovery and a transition out of what COVID put us into.
"The fragility of the music industry and the entertainment industry in general has been really exposed. But the value of music, online music listenership, has gone up over 20 per cent during this crisis so people are using music, relying on music to get through and what we want to do is start that road to recovery, to try and get people to feel good about coming out to listen to live music again in a safe way. That is number one.”
With vaccines beginning to be delivered and the hope that the Atlantic bubble will be reinstated, McLean believes the event can go ahead, as long as every precaution is taken, which they plan to do.
“We will get through this and there is a post-COVID world that we need to get to,” he said. “Musicians are really hurting. And many people are reconsidering a future in music which is devastating, a tragedy.
“It’s a fine line that we need to walk. We’re working in partnership with everybody to deliver something that is needed. We have an obligation to the music community to try and deliver this as much as possible.”
Elizabeth Patterson is a health and culture reporter at the Cape Breton Post.
