Niagara music scene highlighted at game
Local musicians join former Jays president Paul Beeston on field at Rogers Centre
Music has the power to stir excitement in a crowd and pump up an athlete during a game.
It’s something Welland native and former professional baseball executive Paul Beeston spoke about during a ball game late last month at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
“Paul Beeston said it starts with the Canadian anthem. In baseball, each player has a walkup song and uses music to get the fans involved making all the difference,” said Todd Brown, director of the Niagara Music Awards.
Brown said musicians and organizers attended a game July 29 where Beeston spoke about the power of music on the field.
That’s why Dave Grand, the award show’s sponsorship director, reached out to Beeston to see if he would share his thoughts on the role music plays in sports entertainment.
Beeston was president of Major League Baseball from 1997 to 2002, and president of the Toronto Blue Jays from 1989 to 1997 and again from 2008 to 2015 until his retirement.
Beeston also worked as the president of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League in 1994.
He agreed, and a video was shared on the Niagara Music Award’s Facebook page this week.
The conversation he shared with local musicians on the field was meant to highlight not only the Niagara music scene, but also the importance of music.
For more than a decade, the Niagara Music Awards has recognized local musicians and promoted the region’s music scene.
But the show’s organizers want to do more to share the local music scene with the rest of Canada.
“Niagara is growing, and we believe tourism and economic development is a big part of that growth. A lot of tourists, and that growth, come from music and entertainment,” Brown said.
“We like to receive feedback about what we’re doing ... some of the feedback we’ve received is we’re doing a great job in the region, but one of the things we were told is to ask ourselves what we could be doing to bring eyeballs outside of the region to Niagara.”
Having Beeston speak about the importance music plays in sports is one of the ways Brown said the award show’s organizers are doing that.
“There’s a lot of opportunity here. We have producers, videographers, photographers and more talent,” he said. “I think when we all come together and raise each other’s profile everyone wins.”
The 12th annual Niagara Music Awards will be held Sept. 29 at the Scotiabank Convention Centre in Niagara Falls.
Brown said this year will see the award show celebrate local artists during Niagara Music Week Sept. 22 to 29.
The deadline to submit a nomination for one of the award show’s 25 categories is Aug. 25. For more information about the awards visit niagaramusicawards.ca.