How will having two new art leaders in Kitchener help local artists and boost events?

Two arts leaders in Kitchener will work together to promote local talent and put the city’s art and entertainment “on the map.”

Carin Lowerison is co-founder of the local theatre company Green Light Arts and will now take on a role with the city as manager of arts and entertainment venues.

Will Muir, who has previously worked at Centre in the Square as a senior leader and worked alongside various local musicians, is the city’s new music officer.

Although they’re in charge of different aspects of local entertainment, the two say they already have a vision for the city and upcoming artists.

“The city has experienced so much growth and there’s so much amazing talent here. And so it’s about building infrastructure and pathways for allowing that to happen,” Lowerison said in an interview on CBC K-W’s The Morning Edition with host Craig Norris.

“There there is just such a such a wonderful collection of artists of varying disciplines,” she added. “The city has this opportunity to facilitate making their art happen and kind of putting arts and entertainment on the map.”

A good place to launch a music career

Muir says his focus will be on getting artists to see Kitchener as a place to start and grow a music career.

It’s something he knows firsthand, as he launched his own music career in the city, starting a recording studio in 2010. He noted the city has a number of music festivals, particularly in the summer such as Kitchener Blues Fest and Endless Summer, where local musicians can shine.

“I think having the opportunities to layer in local as much as possible in some of these larger festivals is going to be instrumental in an artist’s career and their growth,” Muir said.

Muir pointed to George Seara as an example of someone who started out in Kitchener. Seara has been nominated for nine Juno and three Grammy Awards, and he won the Recording Engineer of the Year Juno Award in 2012.

Muir says he wants to get local artists on stages earlier to give them the confidence to perform at other festivals in Ontario.

Muir believes this will give artists more confidence, and will help get their name out.

“When an artist is on a bill with some larger headliners, right, in that marketing spend, in that marketing sort of trajectory of a festival, their name then gets out there a little bit more and more,” said Muir. 

Helping performers get an audience

Lowerison is aiming to help artists get their art into the community through venues and a new online platform, Kitchener Live.

She is in charge of managing entertainment venues around the city, including the spaces in city hall, the Victoria Park Pavilion and the Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts.

Her other role is launching Kitchener Live, a platform to give artists and event organizers support from the city through a ticketing platform.

It allows artists to get their product out in front of thousands of people, work with venues in the city and receive more support while planning an event, Lowerison says.

“The intention is, if you are a promoter or an organizer, how can the city step in and help make these things easier so that you can focus on making amazing things happen?” she said.

Lowerison says this is beneficial to emerging artists, because they don’t have the marketing dollars to promote their product to thousands of people.

“If you want to make a theatre piece happen, or concert happen, or whatever it is, you need an audience,” she said.

Through the Kitchener Live platform, artists will be able to access an audience, while using packages and venues provided by the city.

There isn’t an exact timeline for the launch of the platform, but Lowerison says it will be “soon.”

Benefits for the city

Promoting art in the region isn’t only going to help local artists, but Muir says it will drive the economy and make the city a better place to live.

The arts creates more jobs, while downtown festivals bring in crowds, benefitting local restaurants and businesses.

On a secondary level, Muir believes the quality of life will improve.

“It’s fine to get people to move to your city, but, you know, they need stuff to do when they get there,” he said.

Both Muir and Lowerison say they are still in the early stages of their new roles enhancing Kitchener’s art scene, but they’re excited for what’s to come.

“We don’t know all of the pieces yet, but we have all of this intention of doing good by the community,” Lowerison said.