The JUNO Awards have been honouring achievement in Canadian music since 1971. Since then, the JUNO Awards have grown from an award ceremony to a days-long celebration of all things music.
This year’s JUNO celebrations will be hosted in Edmonton. The festivities begin on March 9, finishing with the award ceremony on March 13. With MacEwan University’s strong ties to the local and national music scene, it’s no surprise that we have more than a few connections to this year’s celebrations.
And the nominees are…
You know her as Beppie, the genre-bending artist whose latest release, Nice to Meet You, was nominated for Children’s Album of the Year. But we know her as Stephanie Nhan, accessibility assistant in MacEwan’s Access and Disability and Resources.
And we have a few alumni up for awards as well. Jeremiah and Solon McDade of The McDades both graduated from the Music Diploma program in 1998, and are nominated for Traditional Roots Album of the Year for their album The Empress.
Another alum of the Music Diploma program, Duran Ritz who graduated in 2007, is also nominated with his band. Rare Americans are up for Breakthrough Group of the Year.
Not all of our nominated alumni were music students – Erik Grice graduated from Design Studies in 2013. He joined forces with another former Design Studies student, Troy Snaterse, to form Altameda. Now they’re nominated for Adult Alternative Album of the Year for Born Losers.
In 2005, we were proud to present the legendary Susan Aglukark with our Distinguished Citizen Award. We’re thrilled that she’s nominated for Contemporary Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year.
Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees!
Making it happen
MacEwan’s JUNO connections go beyond the stage. Behind the scenes, our people are getting the city ready to celebrate.
Aimee Hill is a Theatre Arts alum and MacEwan’s director of marketing and communications – and she’s also the co-chair of the JUNO Awards host committee (alongside Renée Williams, senior vice-president, Customer Experience & Product Development at the Fort Edmonton Park Management Company). In addition to playing a role in securing the bid for Edmonton to serve as host city, Hill and her committee members have also been working with the JUNOs parent organization, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) to organize events, represent the local music scene and galvanize Edmontonians ahead of the festivities.
Those festivities will begin with a kick-off at City Hall on March 9, during which you’ll hear a fanfare written by none other than MacEwan’s dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Communications, Dr. Allan Gilliland. And just a few days later, on March 13, our own Allard Hall will be playing host to JUNO Stories from the Studio – join Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew as he hosts a conversation with top producers and engineers about the creative process behind some of your favourite albums.
Can’t wait for it all to begin? You can get in the JUNO spirit right now with a quick trip to your local mall. The JUNOs invited MacEwan’s Design Students Organization and industrial design students at the University of Alberta to team up and create community pieces to promote and build excitement in the 2023 host city. Installations at West Edmonton Mall, Kingsway Mall and Londonderry Mall – designed, coordinated and installed by students – showcased their work in high-traffic locations leading up to the big day.
For more information on JUNO nominees and events, visit JunoAwards.ca.