MusiCounts Grants Press Conference

Laid out on the table in the Masaryk-Cowan Community Centre was an ample amount of quality headphones, music equipment and laptops that will be donated to the SKETCH Working Arts Program as a part of the $200,000 MusiCounts, CARAS and TD are giving away to community programs in the inaugural year of the MusiCounts TD Community Music Grants program.
This is the first time MusiCounts has awarded grants outside of the school system and for its inaugural year, 15 recipients have received music grants, including SKETCH.
What started as a conversation about youth support turned into a reality after Juno-award winning artist and member of the Broken Social Scene spoke with MusiCounts nearly two years ago about giving more opportunities to youth outside of the school system, Allan Reid, Director of MusiCounts explains.
“Kevin Drew came to us and said, ‘What are you doing to help kids who aren’t getting music through their schools or they are not good at school, they are dropping out?’ That was him, he had a real tough time in school and when TD came on board, it allowed us to take our programs that we do for the school systems and expand it out into community centres and after school programs and kids that are a little bit more at risk. Music for them and for so many people, this is their moment where they shine and it gives them some definition in their life,” says Reid.
SKETCH, a community program that targets youth who are homeless or on the verge of homelessness was a major recipient of this year’s MusiCounts TD Community Music Grants program and demonstrated where the funds and equipment donations will be going with a musical performance. The performance, courtesy of SKETCH recording artists, consisted of songs that were written alongside Drew just a few days prior to the grant awards ceremony.
Helen Carlson, a young artist who has come to SKETCH for the past two years to record and learn more about her craft like engineering and production performed for Kevin Drew and a few other SKETCH members during the celebration.
“It felt good to be here to give back to SKETCH what they gave to me to be a part of this and [I was] honoured to represent SKETCH and honoured to work with Kevin and that he did all of this for us,” she says following the set.
Because of MusiCounts and TD, 15 recipients have walked away with a little bit more of a foundation and with one year under its belt, the grant program is sure to make a large impact supporting Canada’s music community.