The Spirit of Manitoba Showcase was held last week in cooperation with the Folk Alliance Conference by way of a virtual version via internet.

Whoop and Hollar Folk Festival spearheaded the effort for Manitoba, and artistic director Josh Wright outlines the results.

"We spent several days attending the Folk Alliance Conference back in late February and we had 16 Manitoban artists take part in the event," says Wright. "So, these artists were able to network and take part in some of the conference activities as well as join our Spirit of Manitoba Showcase that we had hosted online on our YouTube and Facebook channel. The public could also watch that showcase of our management artists at the Folk Alliance websites and that was attended by industry artists from all over North America and Australia, and even some parts of Europe viewed the stream."

He notes they came into contact with somebody from Ireland who inquired about the Manitoban music scene, which he says was quite interesting.

"So, I think mainly, attending the conference was an outreach for our artists and our festival kind of on the global stage, just to have a sneak peek at what Manitoba has to offer in the way of music."

eam and be more accessible to audiences who can't attend our events, is something we'll be looking forward to doing as a festival, and incorporating at our open mic concert and festival events in the future," continues Wright. "It seems like it's happening all over the world, as we've learned with our conference and just talking to other industry members and artists to see what they're doing. And the future of live music is right now online."

Wright adds we can't stop the momentum.

"You have to keep your name out there, you have to put your music out there and keep creative, even though it's a little challenging," continues Wright. "There's a point where you have to be resilient, and that's one of our themes of 2021 as a festival -- resiliency. And it's finding ways to just be out there and help artists in this evolving landscape of music. And it's about ensuring that artists can have the tools and resources to put on their own live shows and join live tours in the future, without having to get out and about, which may save costs. But also it's more efficient and realistic in the next year."