Manitoba Acts Head to Edmonton for Second CUT Connex Conference for Urban Culture

Last year, Canada's urban music world converged in Winnipeg for the inaugural CUT Connex Conference for Urban Culture. This year, CUT Connex is bringing three days of live music, workshops, convention, and awards show to Edmonton, and there are plenty of local acts making the trip.

Produced by Canadian Urban Television (CUT) and running September 9-11, the event is focused on emerging talent across the disciplines, from undiscovered rappers to unknown singers to visual artists, photographers, poets, DJs, game developers, and more. 

This year's performer list features dozens of Canadian acts, including strong local representation from Tiffany Ponce and Abstract Artform, Khan Vikshyn, Rukus FoFive, Swamp Bush, Kidd Kane, Desi Ma, Ndu, and Thompson-based rapper Bola. Many of this year's acts will also be manning tradeshow booths throughout the festivities, along with reps from a variety of music companies.

Workshops taking place during the event cover beat production, music business basics, grant writing, getting music onto TV, starting and indie label, and a demo listening session. 

This year's CUT Hip Hop Awards will roll out the red carpet at the Winspear Centre on September 11 to celebrate singers, dancers, rappers, spoken word artists, and music and video producers.

Organizers plan to take CUT Connex on the road to different Canadian cities each year, aiming to connect with, showcase, and celebrate the diverse talent and urban culture from across the country while building CUT TV as an online TV channel and community to promote Canada's urban scene.