On Wednesday afternoon, CFRC Campus Community Radio announced the new Airwave YGK Musicians-in-Residence Program in partnership with the City of Kingston and Kingston Arts Council.
The program follows on the heels of the Airwave YGK DJ Artists-in-Residence Program that CFRC previously held in winter/spring 2023/24, and this round of the program is turning its focus more towards young and emerging bands and musicians.
CFRC Executive Director Dinah Jansen says the first round of residencies with DJs put an emphasis on educational workshops where musicians showcased skills to interested members of the public.
This time, the residency is focused on giving new musicians a hand in getting their foot in the door.
“We wanted to expand that to provide new opportunities for other musicians as well, particularly young and emerging musicians,” Jansen said.
“Those who don’t have recording space or haven’t recorded anything yet, or are really just trying to get a group of people together to put together music for the very first time… we wanted to be able to provide an opportunity for some of the up and comers in our community to be able to use CFRC Studios as an incubator.”
The residency program will offer musicians a chance to use the CFRC studios for a specific project, utilizing in-house technical support and also receiving a stipend for their time spent working in the studios.
This time, with the focus being on new musicians, there will be workshops provided that both the public those selected can attend, rather than put them on themselves.
While it is catered to new, emerging musicians, Jansen says applicants still should have a clear idea of how they’d like to use their time in residency.
“We absolutely want people to be able to describe what it is they would like to do and have an idea of what it is that they can create,” Jansen said.
“Folks that are still really, they have an idea, they have a vision, but they have not yet arrived at putting it all together and getting their stuff into a studio space and getting it recorded and available for people.”
In total, eight different musicians will be offered residencies that will begin in late fall and run until spring, with roughly one residency per month.
Jansen said the of City of Kingston contributed $12,500 to fund the program.
Applications will be accepted until September 30 on CFRC’s website.
