At their last meeting on Tuesday, May 20, council reaffirmed their support for the Kingston Music Strategy and unanimously approved an additional $200,000 for Tourism Kingston’s Music Office to continue implementing the strategy.
The municipal music strategy was launched in 2024 in partnership with Tourism Kingston to support the local music scene. Council was presented with a one year update along with the motion to put additional funding into the initiative.
Heading into the second year of the strategy, setting standards to secure fair compensation for musicians is one of the top priorities.
The City’s Director of Arts and Culture Services, Danika Lochhead, stated before council, “The City doesn’t have necessarily the mandate to, you know, to mandate fair wage elsewhere, but we do have the capacity to lead by example and bring into policy this fair wage and hopefully encourage others to do the same.”
