Mi’kmaq Hip Hop artist and two-time ECMA-nominee Tristan Grant, who performs as Wolf Castle, has launched a pilot project with Music·Musique NB in hopes of aiding Indigenous musicians within New Brunswick. The NB Indigenous Artist Development Grant, sponsored by Grant, aims to provide the tools, support and guidance that he might have benefited from when first beginning his music career.
The music industry is a rather nebulous thing. Finding your way through it, particularly when it comes to locating resources, can be impossible without a guide or, at the very least, a savvy bandmate who is willing to commit to being a full-time manager, grant writer and publicist—outside of practice, of course. Sometimes, just realizing what you don’t know can be half the battle.
“I found myself running into these walls like, I didn’t know that there was funding for music at all!” says Grant. “I had no clue about the intricacies of marketing and planning a release. I also had no idea what music festivals and conferences were around – an issue I think partly caused by living in a rural area as well as coming from a reserve.
“As I continued learning more about the industry through school or personal experience, it became more and more apparent that I was hanging out on the surface of the water, and it went much deeper. It was really annoying and at times boring to learn these things, but I took it as a healthy challenge and vowed to make that journey easier for other artists down the line – so that’s what I’ve started doing with this grant!”
The grant which will be awarded by an all-Indigenous jury, will provide $3000 to one emerging Indigenous artist within the province for the purposes of completing a music-based project. The projects suggested in the outline include, but are not limited to, recording a music video, developing online content, creating a sound recording, and expanding musical skills.
To accomplish many of these goals, Grant says the project will also involve mentorship and support to help the artists achieve their aspirations, and will work hard to create a space for emerging artists who are trying to find a footing.
“I want to be there for the artist as much as I can, while also finding other people to serve as mentors in a way that best serves the project the artist is working on,” says Grant.
“I feel fantastic supporting it – it’s one thing to self-fund your own endeavours but I think that it’s much more valuable to begin working towards a stronger and prominent Indigenous scene within New Brunswick. It already exists, but there’s always more work to be done to bring it to the forefront and navigate this career path in an Indigenous way, rather than a western way.
“I hope that this grant is another important step in growing and unifying the Indigenous music community. We want to focus on working with an artist who hopefully has plans on making music their career path for the future. It’s so important to create art and I’m very excited to have created another point of access for artists to learn more and achieve their dream.”
While the NB Indigenous Artist Development Grant is still a pilot project for the program, Grant hopes to develop the program further to be able to work with as many as 4 artists per year on a 6-month basis.
Artists can propose a project for the NB Indigenous Artist Development Grant up until January 29, 2021 by clicking here.