In June, seven screen composers were chosen to participate in the Canadian Creative Accelerator Music Program, a government initiative fostering cross-border artistic business opportunities.
Launched in 2022, the CCA is part of the Canadian government’s investment via the Consulate General of Canada in Los Angeles to promote and generate creative business and cultural growth into new international markets.
In its earliest version, the program focused on developing independent artists and labels but evolved to provide opportunities for Canadian Latin artist managers, Canadian Punjabi artist managers, and Canadian Black artist managers, according to Andre Galuban, Creative Industries Trade Commissioner and Head of Music at the Consulate.
SOCAN has played a small role with the CCA in prior years, largely through song camps planned by the organization’s LA creative team. But this is the first fully planned programming with SOCAN that supports screen composers as they navigate the business side of their work.
Seven participants were selected from 80 by a panel of Canadian and U.S. industry judges with roles such as studio executive and music supervisor.
This year’s CCA composers are:
- Ames Bessada (they/them)
- Caleb Chan (he/him)
- Erica Procunier (she/her)
- Justin Delorme (he/him)
- Steph Copeland (she/her)
- Stéphanie Hamelin Tomala (she/her)
- Trevor Hoffmann (he/him)
Programming for this cohort was both virtual and in-person, with a reception during their last week, with the aim of helping composers navigate the business relationships and mentorship opportunities to get their work on screen. Mentorship themes included a focus on overall career trajectory, how to present themselves to studio executives, and advice on entering the US market as a Canadian composer.
During their week in LA, the composers met with executives on the studio lots of Sony Pictures, Apple, Amazon, and Dreamworks Animation, as well as with music supervisors, and US agents at Canada House.
“One of the truly impossible things to replicate is being in the environment of Hollywood, even for a few days,” says Mike Rocha, Head of Television and Film at SOCAN. “Our aim was to provide an in-person, feet-on-the-ground experience that accelerates that experience of building impactful connections with those in the LA ecosystem and to regionally expand each composer’s career potential.”
Galuban echoed this sentiment, saying, “A program like the CCA provides Canadians with direct access into new markets that are integral in generating meaningful business growth for Canadians, and also showcases to new international markets that opportunity, skill, and uniqueness in talent from the Canadian market continues to raise Canada’s cultural profile globally.”