News Article

Music PEI nominees for 2009/10 Board of Directors

Kate Gracey-Stewart has been involved in the Canadian music industry since she began working at the East Coast Music Association in 2006. During her employment with the Association, she has organized and participated in all Board of Directors’ meetings, led the Protocol Committee for the East Coast Music Awards and is the current Office Manager.

Kate has more than 15 years experience in business office management. She has worked in sales and marketing, accounting, event planning, coordinating travel, membership drives and much more.

Kate is fan of local music and her passion for the scene is unparalleled. She is an active member of Music PEI, Music NB, Music NS, Music NL, CCMA and COCA.

Kate welcomes the challenge of the opportunity to bring this experience to the Board of Music PEI to help to nurture the local music industry.
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Ronnie Switzer has been involved in the music industry and local business for the past 30+ years and has gained hands on experience in various areas. Most of his music industry knowledge was been gained while playing bass for the Charlottetown band Haywire. As a founding member and band leader he was the liaison with band management and had an active role in the bands decision making. Since Haywire stopped touring in the early 90’s he has founded three successful businesses that are still active today. The first being a property management company called PEI Apartments, formerly Property Care and Rental Inc., and Island Classifieds both of which he has sold. He currently owns the tour company Harbour Hippo and works as Operations Manager for the Charlottetown Harbour Authority Inc. He is a founding member of the Independent Marine Ports of Atlantic Canada (IMPAC) and currently sits on its board of directors.

Respectfully submitted,
Ronnie Switzer
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Maxine MacLennan has been involved in music since the age of 12 fronting bands. From there the natural progression was to mange her own band . Winning a talent show took her to Winnipeg to the CCMA’s where she placed third in the national competition there. From then on she was completely hooked. Attending 12 – 14 CCMA’s recording in Nashville twice and Toronto twice . These recordings garnered her three ECMA nominations and one new artist nomination from the CCMA. Maxine performed at the ECMA’s the first year they were held in Charlottetown on the live show from the Civic Centre. She has a number of showcases under her belt and has appeared on many tv shows including The Tommy Hunter Show , The Joan Kennedy Show, the Anita Peraz show, and numerous others. Touring has taken her all over Canada and parts of the USA. To support her three albums she has three videos two of which were played in medium to heavy rotation on CMT.

Note from Maxine;
I feel I can bring an artist’s perspective to Music PEI from a female point of view as well as a performer, recording and musician point of view. I have a passion for music that has been with me all of my life. I love music. I have lived music. My genre is country/blues but I will and have been known to be in rock band or two as well! I still perform when asked and would love to be part of Music PEI as I feel I can be a positive addition to the board .

Thank You
Maxine MacLennan
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Todd MacEwen
For the past four years, I had been employed at CJRW (SPUD FM) and in my time there acted not only as a DJ, but at various times had hosted and produced a weekly feature on Island musicians and in my temporary position as music director actively added as much local content as possible to our music library and daily music scheduling. Working in radio has exposed me to the wide ranging variety of music being produced here and I was pleased to play a very small part in exposing listeners to music that is unfortunately not as easily accessible as it should be and would very much like to continue to have such a role in helping to get so much of this great music into as many ears as possible. My other qualifications include a diploma in Audio Recording from Recording Arts Canada and a Degree in Journalism from King’s College, both of which have helped foster my love of music through work at community/campus radio stations in Halifax, Montreal and Charlottetown, working at a music publication in New Zealand and helping with technical aspects of several festivals across the country, including the Halifax Pop Explosion, the Hamilton Folk Festival and the East Coast Music Awards. With these experiences and others, I feel I have developed an understanding of many aspects of the music business and feel I could be a productive member of the board with a great deal to contribute to the development of Music PEI.
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I’m Evan Dickson, and although I am not a musician, nor do I technically work in the industry, I do have friends who are local musicians. Because of this I am aware of the uphill struggle that local artists deal with in trying to achieve success in their craft. It is a daunting task that local musicians face, trying to foster their own talent, develop new works, and ultimately gain exposure, whether locally or further afield, in order to share their work with others. Often this is something they have to accomplish with little or no help, and with what time and resources they can muster after the working day is done.

In the past I have lent my time and abilities to help some of our local musicians in the limited ways that I can, creating websites, providing technical help, writing recommendations and reviews wherever I have seen local artists reviewed or showcased in the media, and offering whatever moral and administrative support I have been able to provide. I have long said that there is a lot of talent brewing on our island. I would like to be a part of the board in order to see what I can do to help foster the talent we have here and to help bring it to others.

Thanks,
Evan

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Sue Urquhart is the Executive Director of the Atlantic Presenters Association which is the regional presenters’ network of Atlantic Canada consisting of 56 theatres & festivals. She has worked in the arts for the past 17 years as Executive Director of the Indian River Festival and Event Manager & Coordinator of Contact East 2005, 2007 and 2009. Through the APA she is part of the regional presenters network of Canada representing arts presenters across the country, which is administered through CAPACOA, the national performing arts association of Canada. She is currently sitting on the board of CAPACOA, and has previously served on the IBDA Cultural Exports Working Committee and the East Coast Music Awards board.
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Heather MacAulay is a motivated, involved, outgoing individual. She is currently launching her career and has recognized that the world is her oyster. Through her past experience she will make a strong candidate for the Music PEI Board. Heather has been entrenched in the Maritime music scene particularly a promoter of Island music for years, participating in festivals, ceildhs, benefits, launches, jam sessions and concerts of big and small alike. During her time at St FX University she developed a passion for Radio and spent countless hours working diligently to promote Maritime music. In addition, Heather sat on a number of committees and was extremely active on various boards. Heather has gained a significant knowledge of the importance of broadcast marketing and management as the past Director of Promotions/Marketing for MBS Radio in Charlottetown. Heather is currently responsible with collectively raising 1.3 million dollars for the 2009 Canada Games whereas she has obtained a strong knowledge for the requirements of sponsorship. Heather has gained considerable experience with the largest event that Prince Edward Island has ever hosted.

Other assets Heather would bring to the table are her ongoing involvement with the community and business sectors of PEI. She is currently a Promotional Officer with Tim Chaisson and Morning Fold, charged with various local and regional projects for this paramount island band.

Heather is strategically focused with a passion and for Island Music and would be a worthy addition to the Board.
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Anthony Welsh
MY LIFE BAGAN IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY WHEN I TOOK GUITAR LESSONS FROM A PRIVATE TUTOR BUT GRADUALLY EXCELLED IN SINGING AT KARAOKE AND THAT GRADUALLY EXCELLED IN ACTING IN PLAYS. MY FIRST PLAY WAS TINY TIMS CHRISTMAS THEN AFTER THAT I STARRED IN THE GREATEST MUSICAL OF ALL TIME JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR WHERE I SANG AT THE END WITH THE CAST BUT GRADUALLY AFTER SO MANY PLAYS MY VOICE GOT BETTER AND BETTER AND NOW I HAVE THE PERFECT VOICE FOR ANYTHING EVEN IMITATING PEOPLE I WOULD LIKE TO SERVE ON THE BOARD MAINLY BECAUSE I HAVE BOARD EXPERIENCE AND I LIKE TO HELP PEOPLE I CURRENTLY SERVE ON THE BOARDS OF PEIACL,VAC PUBLIC WORKS BOWLING LEAGUE,FRIENDS OF CONFEDERATION CENTRE,CHARLOTTETOWN LIONS,AND MAYBE PREMIERS COUNCIL OF HEALTHY CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND CHILD CARE FACILITIES AND PEI ROADRUNNERS PLEASE CONSIDER ME FOR A POSITION THANK YOU AND HAVE A NICE DAY

Sincerely
Anthony Welsh
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Paul Milner
Producer / Mixer / Engineer / Music Publisher
Paul has served for the past three years on the board of Music PEI and has been incredibly proud to see the advancements the organization has made and to be involved in helping achieve the current status that the organization currently holds. He is always proud to act as an ambassador for the rich and diverse musical culture here on PEI.
Paul continues to work and travel full time in the music business and would very much like to continue working on behalf of music PEI as an ambassador for local music throughout the world.

For the past 25 years he has been involved in the music industry as a Record Producer / Engineer and music publisher. He has worked in many different countries around the world in some of the world’s best known recording studios for both major and indie projects, he discovered and helped develop bands such as I Mother Earth, The Headstones, and countless others.
Projects he has worked on in one capacity or another have sold in excess of 21 million copies worldwide working alongside the likes of Bob Rock, Keith Richards, Eddie Grant, Robert Palmer, Jamie Stewart (Cult), Sass Jordan and many others. His work has garnered music industry awards including Junos, Gold and Platinum certifications, most recently ECMA awards and a SOCAN #1 song award for Patrizia “Temptation”.
In 2003 he formed TLG Entertainment, a Canadian Record Label signing 25 Bands and distributing CDs in 18 countries, many of those artists still have European, US, and Canadian distribution and tour frequently in those countries. Currently Paul is creative Director for Rock Angel Records in Kingston Ontario, he runs his production company A Major Sound, a music publishing company Many Lives Music Publishers, and Shell Lane Studio, a full service residential recording studio located in Malpeque PEI.
See complete Bio / Discography at www.amajorsound.com.

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JUDITH MacLELLAN –

I have been a resident of Summerside since November of 1990. I have three grown children with two of them involved in the music scene of Prince Edward Island. My musical taste is eclectic.
I have previously been a Director of the East Prince Women’s Information Centre, a member of the Prince County Hospital Auxiliary, as well as on committees for both the Athena and Three Oaks Band Parents Associations.
My work experience as a legal assistant for the past 15 years would bring my excellent organizational skills to the Board.
Please consider my name for a position on the Board of Directors of Music PEI.