Saskmusic heads online for awards celebration

While socializing is frowned upon during a pandemic, Saskmusic is using social media to celebrate musicians for this weekend's Saskatchewan Music Awards.

The show is designed “to try to properly celebrate the social aspect of those platforms and have something that's shareable and where people can interact and engage with each other,” said Saskmusic executive director Mike Dawson.

The prepackaged program will stream on Saskmusic's Facebook and Youtube pages on Sunday, Jan. 24, at 8 p.m. The video includes “quirky animations,” performances by Belle Plaine and The North Sound (among others), and “some quick little fun cameos sent from the safety of (musicians') homes.”

The show is a Saskmusic staff effort, said Dawson, with expertise from Regina video production company Hot Tag Films.

Saskmusic launched the Sask. Music Awards in 2018 as a way to bring together music industry professionals and music fans to celebrate the achievements of the year. The third annual event would have been held in November, were it not for the pandemic.

“(We) didn't want to let it go a year without recognizing and honouring all the great music that's come out in the past year and all the work that (industry workers) are doing,” said Dawson, who plans to watch the awards at home on his laptop.

Sunday's show is streaming at no cost.

“We didn't want to have something that was as a paywall or locked away; we wanted it to be as accessible to folks as possible and we're hoping one of the upsides in doing it this way is that we can reach a new audience and … hope it grows some new fans,” said Dawson.

He doesn't believe the awards show will add to viewers' “screentime burnout.”

“We're really trying to make a little program that feels different than the typical awards show and hope that it gives folks a reason to sit at the computer for an hour. It's going to be very fast moving and full of surprises,” said Dawson.