Watch the Canadian Folk Music Awards online today!
Hats off to the Canadian Folk Music Awards for jumping into the new normal with both feet and making sure its awards ceremony, original scheduled for this weekend in Charlottetown, PEI, goes ahead in novel fashion here in the era of COVID-19 isolation.
While the Junos quietly announced last month that they are postponing their 2020 winners announcement “indefinitely,” the CFMA’s have put together a 30-minute video awards announcement that will stream tonight at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT on its Facebook page and web site.
The event is free.
With so much uncertainty over how long physical distancing rules will last and doubt over whether the CFMA board could even realistically reassemble its live show once they’re over, the board members decided to go ahead with the digital ceremony, said video editor and CFMA vice president Graham Lindsey
They also wanted to give a much-needed boost to artists whose promotional activities have taken a massive hit, he said.
“With the global pandemic and so many artists, bookers, fans and more sitting at home, there will be a lot of momentum lost for a lot of artists,” he said. “If we can do anything to let them hit the ground running when we’re all able to start playing music and spend time together again, we would very much like that. I’m very proud of our board for making a decisive move at the most challenging time in generations.”
The show is a slick, fast-paced package featuring a professional voice-over artist announcing the nominees and clips of all of the winners, Graham explained.
“I feel we decided on a good model by keeping our show nice and short,” he added “If we take up any more time than we need, it could detract from the ability of other musicians to get out there and have their music heard.”
Graham isn’t sure how much money the CFMAs lost as a result of having to cancel the awards weekend, but he said there was never any debate among board members about charging money for tonight’s show.
“Especially [since] the vast majority of musicians will no doubt be in a tighter financial position,” he said. “I personally would be against charging even a dollar for them to see our show.”
The entire board of the CFMAs will be online during the awards ceremony to interact with audience members via the chat functions on Facebook and Youtube.
“I’m very excited that we’ll be able to engage with them on a scale we literally never have before,” Graham said.
Catch the show tonight at 7 ET / 4 PT at https://video.folkawards.ca/
