Aboriginal Musicians from Across Canada Converge on Manitoba for AMP Camp Residency Project

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Cassidy Mann (Photo: Joseph Visser Photography)

Eighteen Aboriginal musicians from across Canada will converge on Falcon Trails Resort for the Aboriginal Music Performers (AMP) Camp, which runs February 9-14, 2014. Hosted by Manitoba Music and the Canada Council for the Arts, the week-long residency gives emerging and mid-career Aboriginal recording artists an opportunity to develop their business skills and artistic abilities.

This will be the seventh edition of AMP Camp, which now runs every two years. Past participants -- including 2014 JUNO Award nominee Inez Jasper (who will participate again this year) and past JUNO nominees Don Amero, and Tracy Bone, and CBC’s The 8th Fire composer Cris Derksen -- have gone on to release acclaimed albums, receive multiple music awards and nominations, and make music their full-time job.

This year's faculty includes many established artists and music industry professionals, including A Tribe Called Red's manager Guillaume Decouflet; JUNO-nominated recording artist Alida Kinnie Starr; producer/musician and Black Hen Records founder Steve Dawson; Winnipeg Folk Festival artistic director Chris Frayer; NCI FM CEO David McLeod; APTN's Sky Bridges; hip hop producer Tim Hill; acclaimed bassist/composer MJ Dandeneau; Las Vegas-based songwriter/producer Sherry St. Germain; Jazz Winnipeg executive producer Paul Nolin; Manitoba Film & Music's manager of music programs, Jason Smith; Road Angel Entertainment's Jill Snell; West End Cultural Centre general manager Stephen Carroll; and more. 

The artists have been invited to AMP Camp 2014 are: Bonnie Couchie (ON), Brad Bellegarde (SK), Brendt Diabo (QC), Candace Curr (BC), Cassidy Mann (MB), Crystal Schooner (BC), Gillian Thomson (BC), Inez Jasper (BC), Jason Ross (MB), Leonard Sumner (MB), Malcolm Campbell (MB), Matthew Miller (ON), Melody McKiver (ON), Miranda Currie (NT), Robert Thomson (BC), Shane Bellegarde (SK), Shy-Anne Hovorka (ON), Tara Williamson (ON).

AMP Camp is an initiative of Manitoba Music's Aboriginal Music Program (AMP), which was launched in 2004 to help First Nation, Inuit, and Métis people in Manitoba develop sustainable careers in music by connecting them with opportunities within Manitoba Music and beyond.

Manitoba Music would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts; the Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings (FACTOR) through the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage (Canada Music Fund) and of Canada's Private Radio Broadcasters; Manitoba Tourism, Culture, Heritage, Sport and Consumer Protection; Manitoba Film & Music; and the Manitoba Arts Council.

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