The West End Cultural Centre is pleased to announce a new concert series called ‘Bring Your Own Mic’. This ticketed, livestream concert series will present the best of Manitoba Music from the WECC stage for our audiences to watch online.
We at the West End Cultural Centre understand the restrictions and complications that came with Covid-19. We were heartbroken to have to reschedule and cancel dozens of events on our spring & summer and even into our fall Calendar. However, we remain steadfast in our mandate to support local artists and bring great music to audiences in our community.
We have watched the rise of live-streaming and how it has allowed artists to stay connected with their fans. At the same time, we also realize that live-streaming is complicated for artists to use as a source of revenue. As we watch other industries slowly return to work, and we are acutely aware that the live music industry will be one of the last to go back to what we called normal. So we must adapt and change.
So we’re asking music listeners, from Manitoba abroad, to join us for ‘Bring Your Own Mic’, a series of ticketed, live-streamed concerts by select Manitoba artists brought to our audiences through an accessible $2 paywall and streamed on Vimeo. The funds will go to artists in the same way they do when you attend an “in person” show. Each concert will be produced by the the West End’s skilled technicians; all Manitoba labour, and we are essentially turning the WECC into a television studio. “We are working to give audiences as close of an in-person show experience as we can” says WECC Artistic Coordinator Jorge Requena Ramos. “We knew that there was a way to do live-streaming right for both artists and audiences. We just had to figure out how.”
At the WECC the safety of our patrons, performers, staff, and volunteers is one of our main priorities. For each livestream, we are ensuring performers arrive to a clean and already set up stage (and yes, as the concert series title suggests, we are asking them to bring their own microphones). The live stream will be produced by our in-house team With a minimal crew, we are still able to present a high-quality shows while still practicing appropriate social distancing.
Leonard Sumner
Anishinaabe MC/Singer/Songwriter Leonard Sumner's storytelling flows directly from the shores of Little Saskatchewan First Nation, located in the heart of the Interlake of Manitoba.
Sumner's self-determined sound is evidence of his ability to simultaneously occupy landscapes of multiple musical genres including; Hip-Hop, Spoken Word, Country, and Rhythm and Blues.
With every vibration of the strings on his guitar, Leonard rattles the dust off truths that have been buried for far too long. On stage he poetically sings awake the consciousness of audiences may have been unaware of their slumber.
In this era of unsettling history and healing wounds of the past, Sumner's music is an expression of medicine that walks the line between fortitude and fragility.