If you’re looking for a night out and want to support homegrown talent then Toronto’s Wavelength Winter Festival is the place to be!
From Feb. 29 to March 2, music lovers can enjoy three nights of non-stop entertainment with a diverse lineup of emerging artists and thought-provoking panels.
Whether you live downtown or are looking for a reason to head into the city, the event will offer an exciting glimpse of Toronto’s thriving music landscape and celebrate what the city has to offer.
The 24th annual festival is presented by Wavelength Music, a non-profit arts platform that organizes concerts, festivals and conversations centered around Toronto’s music scene.
This year’s theme is “East to West” and includes an impressive lineup of prominent, up-and-coming artists.
“It’s all new, emerging, exciting Canadian independent music in a variety of genres from hip hop and R&B to indie and experimental and folk and world music,” Wavelength Music Artistic/Executive Director Jonathan Bunce told Now Toronto.
Bunce says the organization decided to host the festival from east to west this year following the results of a study it conducted that found 85 per cent of live music in Toronto happens in the downtown west end.
“We wanted to balance that out a bit and present music in different parts of the city. So, we started our festival at Hugh’s Room Live who moved their venue to the east end, because there’s not many venues on the east side of the city to give people in different neighbourhoods a chance to experience live music in their backyard,” he explained.
The opening night on Feb. 29 will feature performances by headliners Georgia Harmer, DijahSB, and Beams, as well as Just Prince, Kali Horse, Charles Spearin, Animatist, Big Sissy, Cots, Janette King, Caijo, Love Language and Dj sets by Sadstab.
In addition, there will be a panel discussion titled, “East to West: Meet Toronto’s New Music Spaces” at Hugh’s Room Live in the east end. Night one tickets are available on a pay what you can basis (suggested $15).
On night two, attendees can expect shows from DijahSB, Big Sissy, Janette King and Caijo at the University of Toronto’s (UofT) Hart House Music Room. Tickets are $20 each and entrance is free for UofT students.
And if you missed the headliners on opening night, or want to see them again,you can watch them perform at St. Anne’s Parish Hall at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 each.
As Wavelength prepares for the big festival, Bunce says the organization is proud of how far it has come to uplift and celebrate local talent.
“We’ve spent 24 years really staying true to our mission to support homegrown music and champion the most exciting new music from our local music scenes.” Bunce said.
Wavelength Music has partnered with new Canadian ticketing platform DICE.FM, so attendees can purchase single-day tickets and festival passes there, as well as on Wavelength’s official website. Festival passes are available for $44 each.
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