CIMA Wraps Up First Ever Mission to CIMMFest 2016
This April, CIMA brought the first ever Canadian Blast showcase and business initiative to The Chicago International Movies & Music Festival (CIMMFest) in Chicago, Illinois. The festival, a four-day event combining film, live music, VJ/DJ sets, Q&As, industry panels and presentations, showcases the important relationship between movies and music. Four Canadian companies joined the Music Export Canada mission: Bumstead Productions, McKinley Entertainment, POP Entertainment & Management and Pipe & Hat as well as four talented bands: Sc Mira, The Noble Thiefs, The Treble and The Trews.
The full day of Canadian events took place as part of the Record Day celebrations on Saturday, April 16 and kicked off with CIMA’s Music Export Manager, Trisha Carter, speaking on the panel “Booking Bands: Tools to Move from the Basement to the World” as part of CIMMCon. From there, delegates were invited across the street to a “Meet the Canadians” reception at the East Room from 4:00PM-5:30PM where Canadian and International participants got the opportunity to network before the showcase.
Following the reception, Winnipeg’s Sc Mira opened the evening of performances with a mesmerizing show in front of a room full of industry professionals and local fans. Up next, the second Winnipeg based band of the night, The Treble, hit the stage with a rocking set. As the sun set, The Trews played a moonlit set and after receiving an encore chant from the crowd, treated everyone to an appropriately Canadian Neil Young cover. The Noble Thiefs kept the energy going, wrapping up an evening of amazing performances.
CIMA conducted a marketing campaign throughout CIMMFest 2016, hiring an in-market production team to spread the word about the Canadian artists performing, many of whom played additional showcases throughout CIMMFest.
A huge thanks to CIMMFest for welcoming CIMA on our first mission to Chicago to be part of such a unique experience!
CIMA gratefully acknowledges and thanks our generous sponsors and partners Canadian Music Week (CMW), Corus Entertainment, the Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings (FACTOR), the Government of Canada (through the Canada Music Fund), Harvard Broadcasting, Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC), the Radio Starmaker Fund and Stingray Music.