London shares Junos love with friends in Windsor

A unique musical collaboration between two Southwestern Ontario cities rolls into Windsor Thursday — giving the city a little taste of the upcoming Juno Awards. The Junos Host City Music Exchange tour brings discussions, education, development and music across the area, wrapping up the showcase in Windsor.

The annual Juno Awards will be hosted March 17 in London at Budweiser Gardens, bringing a blast of big Canadian music. Cory Crossman, the music industry development officer for the City of London, said hosting the show inspired the city to share some of the experience with nearby communities. “We’re really excited to be given an opportunity that a lot of places don’t get,” Crossman said. “We’re really trying to work to get music education and discussion happening throughout the community.” The exchange has been rocking and talking on the road all month with stops in Mississauga, Kitchener and now Windsor.

“What we’re trying to do with the host city exchange is sort of help spread awareness about the Junos and help export some of our emerging talents here in London,” he said.

The exchange includes a full day of music education and business development. A panel of representatives from various arts and music organizations will first visit a Windsor school. A panel discussion and networking event then follows Thursday night at Phog Lounge.

The evening wraps up with a special concert featuring four artists all performing at the Olde Walkerville Theatre: Windsor’s own Crissi Cochrane and The Brandy Alexanders, along with London locals Averages, as well as Charlie Weber and the Glorious Failures.

“It’s going to be a high-energy show, a lot of fun,” Crossman said. “All of the artists that are performing are extremely high calibre and it’s a big focus on what we’re trying to do — showcase artists from secondary markets.” Once the host music exchange wraps up, artists from each stop are invited back to London to perform during Juno week at a special host city community event. “It’s pretty cool when you can look at a secondary market and they all have unique attributes which make them great music cities,” Crossman said. “Any city can be a music city — any city is a music city.” Windsor’s music cities exchange is presented by the Junos, the City of London and MusicOntario and partnered locally with the Windsor-Essex Economic Development Corporation and Music Windsor Essex.

Both events are open to all ages and free to attend. Attendees are asked to register beforehand at eventbrite.ca as space may be limited.