Workshops

About

Manitoba Music is celebrating International Women’s Day throughout the month of March with the launch of a new three-part speaker series: GEAR UP (Gender Equity in Audio Recording and Music Production). 

Women have been massively underrepresented in the audio production world, making up only 2% of all producing positions across the 2020 Billboard Hot 100 songs, according to The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s 2021 report. Women and non-binary people working in music production – and particularly BIPOC producers and engineers  – face substantial barriers to participation and a lack of opportunities for mentorship, experience, and career growth. 

Featuring prominent women engineers and producers, the virtual speaker series aims to create connections with aspiring women and non-binary audio engineers and producers and established professionals alike, and build awareness of the issues in the music community through discussion of career journeys, creative and business mentorship, and lived experiences. The GEAR UP Speaker Series is made possible by the support of FACTOR and Manitoba Film & Music.

About the Speaker

Hill Kourkoutis is a revered Canadian music contributor. She is an accomplished producer, songwriter, composer, artist, musician, and director. 

Spanning her career, Hill has produced and/or written albums and/or singles for 2021 Juno-winning Indigenous Artist of the Year, Leela Gilday, Royal Wood, Cassie Dasilva  (the TikTok 1mm smash “Unsolicited Contact”), Jules (“Before You Picked Her” #1 CBC, Top 40 Alternative Radio), POESY (Top 40 Alternative Rock Radio), Digging Roots, Amanda Rheaume, and SATE.  Hill played on, produced and mixed Leela Gilday’s Juno award-winning album ‘North Star Calling’. 

Additionally, along with Juno-winning artist Serena Ryder, she produced and co-wrote the theme song and the end title song for Universal Kids’ animated children’s series Remy and Boo, which was one of the overall top 3 premieres of 2020. Hill also produced and co-wrote the theme song for Disney’s pre-school series Dino Ranch, which was rated the #1 pre-school series in the United States. Most recently, Hill co-wrote and produced episodic songs for Thomas & Friends.

As a musician, Kourkoutis has had the honour of playing with artists such as The Weeknd, Serena Ryder, and Tara Slone and, for two seasons on the CTV series, ‘The Launch’, performing as guitarist in the show's house band.