Meet the MusicWorks Mentors: The Road to BreakOut West

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We’re bringing a little bit of BreakOut West to Winnipeg this month with the return of our BreakOut West International Program! Manitoba Music is hosting two days of music industry programming focused on supporting artists' international career development goals. On September 26 and 27, we’ll welcome eight BreakOut West’s international delegates to share their expertise on two of our most requested topics: international touring and international publishing. Delegates will also be available for one-on-one mentor meetings to help participants grow their careers across borders. Get more info and register!

Get to know the mentors a little better...

Alex Onestas
Omax Capital

Alexis Onestas is the founder of Omax Capital. Omax Capital is a venture capital firm on a mission to change the face of entrepreneurship by investing in 1,000 diverse founders over 20 years.

www.omaxcapital.fr

Gabriela Urquiza
Glamrock Agency

Gabriela Urquiza is the Director of Glamrock Agency, a showbusiness company based in Mexico City. Originally created in Buenos Aires in 1999, Glamrock Agency opened its offices in Mexico City in 2012.

The agency is well known in Latin America and the U.S as one of the pioneers in artist development, marketing strategies, booking and management. 

Gabriela collaborated in the beginnings of Latin Grammy and LARAS Academy, producing the release of the Academy and the Awards for Latin America in Argentina in 1998 also she brought the first Latin Grammy educational program “Grammy in the Schools” to a Latin American country. 

She is the former Director of Alternative, Rock and Latin Music Department of Fenix Entertainment Group, one of the biggest South Cone showbusiness companies during 6 years.

She booked artists for dozens of festivals such us Rock al Parque (Colombia), Personal Fest (Argentina), FIIS (Chile), Quito Fest (Ecuador), Vive Latino (Mexico), Portamerica (España), Pal Norte (Mexico), LAMC (NYC), Ruido Fest (Chicago), Nuevo Fest and Hispanic Fiesta (Philadelphia), among others.

Since 1999, Gabriela Urquiza has had a key role in the Latin Market, collaborating with the positioning of some of the biggest Latin artists in the market. She worked with the #1 artists Calle 13, Draco Rosa, Plastilina Mosh, Kinky, Ely Guerra, Dante Spinetta, Miranda!, Catupecu Machu, among others. 

Her work in management includes artists such as: Silvina Moreno, Jonaz (Ex Plastilina Mosh), and in the past she managed La Vida Boheme, Plastilina Mosh, Dante Spinetta, Gonzalo Aloras. She presently also works in international management with Argentinian bands La Beriso y Bersuit Vergarabat. She also works with Canadian Acts, developing their careers in Latin America: Afrotronix, Tourist Company, Rayannah, Elijah Bekk. 

Gabriela created Mercado, a division of Glamrock Agency, a merchandising and experiences company which worked on the merch licences of some of the biggest artists such as: Paul Mc Cartney, Metallica, Beyonce, Guns N Roses, Iron Maiden, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Justin Bieber, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Calle 13, Miranda, Gustavo Santaolalla, Bersuit , among others . She also works coordinating with M&G of Paul Mc Cartney, Demi Lobato, Justin Bieber, Santaolalla, Il Divo, Draco Rosa, among others.

In 2020, Glamrock Agency created two online festivals, Festival Glamrock (Argentina/Canada Edition) with 12 artists from both countries and one of the biggest artists from Mexico as Host. This festival reached 20k views per day. Late in October, Festival Cardinal became the first Online Continental Festival, with 60 artists from 13 countries of the American Continent that had 93k views during the three days edition.

www.glamrockagency.com

Hannah King
We Are Golden

Started off career as a score producer for feature films and drama (incl. BAFTA nominated Oliver Twist).  Then worked at EMI / Sony / ATV Music Publishing for 13 years leaving the company as Global Creative Manager. After leaving she set up We Are Golden with Nathan Boddy + her own independent consultancy company Kitty and Bob.  We Are Golden acts as music supervisors + composer managers working across advertising (having supervised D&AD award winning campaigns - clients include Audi, Nike, Adidas etc), TV (everything from large scale reality TV formats to feature docs including the recent documentary about Amy Winehouse) to feature films.  We Are Golden handles all aspects of music supervision from creative research, score production, composer management, music licensing and clearance. We are based at Strongroom Studios in Shoreditch. 

Kitty and Bob works on a consultancy basis with TV companies and music publishers and has worked on projects spanning business development in Mumbai, building a music supervision business in Shanghai, creating production music labels for music publishers and TV companies and management of sales and creative for production music labels as a UK sub-publisher.  

I have a BMus + MA masters in music, MSc in Business + Management specialising in Creativity + Risk 

www.we-are-golden.com

Josh Briggs
Terrorbird Media

Josh Briggs is the General Manager and Head of Publishing for Terrorbird Media & Terrorbird Publishing in Los Angeles, California. From punk rock bands and college radio to performing rights and music publishing, Josh has spent his career as a steward of independent music. He believes that doing it yourself doesn’t mean doing it alone, and that inclusiveness and understanding are keys to a thriving musical ecosystem. He's worked with everyone from Le Tigre to Lord Huron, Oh Sees to Solange, and published a Guide to Sync Licensing for The Creative Independent. You can also catch him at home making ice cream, or doling out unsolicited parenting advice through the lessons of horror movies as co-host of the podcast Mummy & Deaddy.

terrorbird.com

Neil Morris
DRMNGNOW

Neil Morris is proud First Nations man of the Yorta Yorta people with connections to the Dja Dja Wurrung, Ngurai Illum Wurrung and Wiradjuri. Morris  is  robustly forward thinking driven by a strong decolonial lens whilst also bringing his strong First Nations lineages into his work as both a creative and within the business realm. 

His professional work practice is underpinned by a foundation of over a decades work within First Nations spaces such as Cultural Rejuvenation, Indigenous Ecology, and Education prior to focusing in the Music space particularly since 2015. His work in music is henceforth driven with a strong advocacy focus  for First Nations Self Determination and Sovereignty. With a culturally driven methodology, Morris has been key in sparking conversations relating to this within a music context in recent years across so called Australia. His work has been underpinned by conceptual thinking around how we can move forward in just and innovative ways on the Indigenous Land of so called Australia. 

This has led to the development of ‘Still Here Arts & Culture’ which is anchored around building culturally nurturing spaces that centre the power of Indigenous song in the now within Programming , Mentoring and Development. This links into his work in Radio where he has been championing First Nations music on RRR Radio in so called Melbourne  since  2017 with show, ‘Still Here’ which features content from Indigenous music from across the globe. 

His work also spreads across into the artistic domain with his project DRMNGNOW where  much of his work comes together with content which has challenged the status quo in so called Australia in a way which has called for a greater acknowledgement and awareness around First Nations culture and rightful place in this continent in a very striking manner with songs such as “ Australia  Does Not Exist”, “Indigenous Land“ and “Ancestors”.  

linktr.ee/drmngnow

Quirina Geijsen

Quirina is a dutch promoter working for venues like De Vorstin (Hilversum) and Markt Centraal (Amsterdam). She focuses on the development of regional talent in her programs. With her background in anthropology and journalism, she's interested in subjects like women in hiphop and the experience of ultimate freedom that is the moshpit.

linktr.ee/quirinageijsen

Simeon Pranger
Treetop Agency

Treetop Agency is a booking agency based in Utrecht/Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Founded on February 16th 2015 out of a passion for finding the perfect match between artist and atmosphere, the Treetop vision is borderless. We are proud to represent an eclectic roster of artists from 19 different countries, including Canadian artists Altameda, Scenic Route To Alaska, St.Arnaud and The Secret Beach.

www.treetopagency.com

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