MANITOBA SONGCAMP: Manitoba Music Brings Nine Local Artists Together for Collaborative Songwriting Session

At the heart of any great music career story is a great song. Manitoba Music is bringing nine performing songwriters together to enhance their songwriting chops and create new songs through collaboration at Manitoba SongCamp. The three-day co-writing retreat will take place in a tranquil cabin setting in the Whiteshell, July 20 – July 23, 2014.

The session brings together a diverse group of established and emerging performing songwriters spanning several genres, including Cassidy Mann, Charlotte Kosc, Flo Oramasionwu (Flo), Grant Davidson (Slow Leaves), Jenna Priestner (Mobina Galore), Kevin Roy, Maxine Peters, Matt Worobec (Lost Weekend), and Sonia Eidse.

SongCamp is an opportunity for songwriters to focus on collaboration in a supportive and structured environment, and to co-write with peers including Western Canadian Music Award-winner Oramasionwu; Worobec, whose band has a deal through Rondor/Universal; 2014 WCMA nominee Cassidy Mann; and Davidson, whose single off his recent EP is a CBC Radio 2 favourite; and more.

“This opportunity to bring together these gifted songwriters for such a unique experience is fantastic,” says Manitoba Music’s executive director Sara Stasiuk. “With SongCamp, we aim to foster new talent and help them develop essential collaborative skills that will stay with them for the entirety of their careers in music.”

By the end of the retreat, each songwriter will have added three new songs to their catalog. Previous sessions, supported by the Songwriters Association of Canada, have yielded stellar results. Ruth Moody’s collaboration with Royal Canoe's Matt Peters and producer Derek Norton, "We Can Only Listen, was featured on her JUNO Award-nominated album, The Garden. Western Canadian Music Award-winning producer Arun Chaturvedi and Sony/ATV Music Publishing artists Phil Deschambault and Heather Longstaffe, have all received multiple placements in film, television, and commercials based on music conceived at the retreat.

SongCamp is just one of the many professional and career development opportunities offered by Manitoba Music. Throughout the fall and winter, Manitoba Music runs its MusicWorks series of workshops, panels, and mentor opportunities for local artists and industry. Most recently in June, Manitoba Music ran the latest edition of its Songwriters in Residence series, which offered its members several chances to work one-on-one with professional songwriters.

Music fans will get a chance to witness some of the SongCamp collaborations in a special edition of Manitoba Music Night at Ozzy’s on Wednesday, August 6. All nine songwriters will share their co-written tunes along with a few of their own songs in a songwriter-in-the-round format. The monthly event, now in its fourth year, highlights new local music the first Wednesday of every month.