WCMA Board of Directors
Sean McManus
ManitibaMusic (President)
Sean McManus is executive director of Manitoba Music and the chair of the Canadian Council of Music Industry Associations. Sean has several ways to make coffee at home and has mastered making fresh ground coffee on the road. He is always shocked when cycling in cities around the world that places that are not Winnipeg have hills. At home, he spends a ridiculous amount of time in the kitchen and generally can’t resist making tacos on Tuesday and pizza on Friday.
Mike Dawson
SaskMusic (Vice-President)
Michael Dawson is the Executive Director of SaskMusic. He is also the Artistic Director of the Gateway Festival and sits on a number of boards and committees, including the Association of Creative Industry of Saskatchewan and the Canadian Council of Music Industry Associations. He enjoys hobbies, interests, and soda water. On a good day he is approximately 179cm tall.
Kesi Smyth
604 Records
Kesi Smyth is the General Manager / HR at 604 Records where her career spans over 17 years in the Canadian music industry. Most notably; Kesi was day to day manager for Carly Rae Jepsen during the peak of global hit “Call Me Maybe” organizing performances for the MuchMusic Video Awards, Billboard Music Awards, American Music Awards, and much more.
She has since ascended roles to oversee the label operations of the 604 Label Group and the many clients it serves. She also sits on the CIMA (Canada Independent Music Association) Board of Directors, and participates in the ADVANCE membership committee (Black Music Industry Collective) among other committee positions.
Additionally; Kesi has two young daughters, a love for travel, and unfortunately not much time for hobbies at this point! There will be time for hobbies in retirement... right?
Carly Klassen
Alberta Music (On Leave for 2021-22)
Carly Klassen is the Executive Director at Alberta Music. She sits on several boards and committees including Canada's Music Incubator and West Anthem.
Her love of music is perhaps only surpassed by her passion for renovating vintage tent-trailers. Her most recent acquisition was a 14 ft, 1991 Palomino MXL which she stripped to the bone and rebuilt before pulling it up The Alaska Highway (and back) in 2020.
One need not be surprised to find various pieces of coloured thread stuck to her clothing; evidence of her many cross-stitching endeavours.
She enjoys the company of her fury office assistant, Herbie. He also serves as Chief Executive Foot Warmer.
Kimberly Cleave
APTN
Kim is the Producer of Content Creation at APTN. She also dabbles in a lot of hobbies…
SFX Makeup (love horror & gore lol)
Loves to fish – Can be found on her boat hitting lakes in the summer and found camping on the ice in the winter
And has a huge movie collection. All started from her job at Blockbuster. Bucket list is to visit the last standing Blockbuster in Bend, Oregon.
Kurt Dahl
One Bad Son / Murphy and Company LLP
Kurt's favorite songwriters are Bob Dylan, John Prine and Warren Zevon. Kurt once motorbiked across the country to see a Warren Zevon concert, which unbeknownst to him (or Zevon) at the time, ended up being the last public concert of Zevon's career.
Kurt and his wife Julia welcomed their third (and final, he swears) child into the world in 2020, a girl named Lennon. You can guess who she is named after. His son Levon is named after Levon Helm, singer/drummer of The Band. His other daughter Laurel is named after his mother-in-law.
Kurt is an entertainment lawyer by day and a musician by night. He is a founding member and drummer in One Bad Son. When the band opened for The Rolling Stones in 2019, Kurt tried his best (like, really really tried) but was not able to meet Keith Richards.
Lindsay MacPherson
Music BC
Lindsay is the Executive Director of Music BC, a provincial industry association advancing the careers of British Columbia's music creatives and industry through Training, Mentorship, Export & Professional Development opportunities.
Scott Maynard
Music Yukon
Scott Maynard has performed for four generations of British royalty, and once sang backup vocals on a song by Elton John that went on to be the worst selling single in the history of Parlophone records. It still probably outsold 2006's Are We Not Horses, by Rock Plaza Central, of which he is a core member. He is honoured to represent the Yukon on the board of the WCMA.
Chirstine Rogerson
Alberta Music / HowWeListen / Byta
Christine Rogerson is currently working with HowWeListen, which is the non-profit arm of Byta, an online music sharing platform. Christine is the consummate DIYer who cannot stop herself from trying out a new craft, recipe, or hobby… and as such, her house is a disaster held together by sourdough, yarn-bombing knitscapades, and whatever else Instagram and Pinterest convince her that she is capable of attempting. Of her husband, two human and two fur-children, her favourite family member is her robot vacuum - Roomba Boomba. While the family has enjoyed copious amounts of outdoor time with tobogganing, cross country skiing, and skating, everyone is looking forward to summer fun and day-long adventures in the electric cargo bike.
Andrew Sannie
Grape Experiential / The Lytics
1) Andrew is a massive James Taylor fan. 2) Andrew is in Canadian hip hop group, The Lytics 3) Andrew is a lifelong Toronto Raptors fan
I joined the board as means of using my voice to advocate for hip hop artists in Western Canada, believing that the only way to impact a system is to be on the inside.
Trevor Sinclair
Music NWT
Trevor Sinclair is the President of Music NWT and the drummer for The Housemen. Despite living in Yellowknife, Trevor has a particular hatred of socks and will only drum barefoot. His artistic side does not stop at music as he once won a cooking competition to attend a culinary University in Italy, but a world pandemic stopped him from releasing his culinary kung-fu upon the world. Trevor also has an impressive collection of loud shirts, mainly to distract people from looking at his sockless feet.
WCMA Indigenous Liaison Committee
Alan Greyeyes
sākihiwē festival
Alan Greyeyes serves as the Festival Director for the sākihiwē festival and runs the artist and project management company, Ogichidaa Arts. He also volunteers with the Polaris Music Prize board of directors; the RBC Convention Centre board of directors; the Rap category committee at the JUNO Awards; the Mayor's Indigenous Advisory Circle for the City of Winnipeg; and the Indigenous committees at the National Music Centre and the Winnipeg Folk Festival. In 2020, Alan received the Arts Award of Distinction from the Manitoba Arts Council and the Kevin Walters Legacy Award from Manitoba Music. Alan is a member of the Peguis First Nation.
MJ Dandeneau
MJ Emtertainment Canada Inc.
MJ DANDENEAU is a French Métis/Anishinaabe woman from the Red River Nation. Her mother comes from the Métis Red River Valley (île-à-la-Crosse) and her father comes from Penetanguishene, Treaty 61. She is an accomplished bassist, director and producer. Through her business, MJ Entertainment Canada Inc, she has worked and toured with various artists worldwide for the past 17 years. Nationally recognized with recording awards such as JUNO, WCMA, CFM she has recently been awarded the Indigenous Full Circle Award, one of the Manitoba Arts Council prestige prizes in the Arts. MJ’s extensive music career includes booking agent for Europe and Australia, Sound Designer and Composer for films and theatres companies, Artistic & Musical Director for various bands and artist, industry board member and funding assessor for Canada Art Council, Factor, Juno, WCMA Awards, CFM Awards, MusicAction and Manitoba Art Council. MJ’s key focus and passion are supporting and empowering indigenous artists in successfully navigating the national and international market.
Western Canadian Music Alliance and BreakOut West staff team:
Robyn Stewart – Executive Director
Johnny Marlow – Submissions and Administration
Heather Sharpe – Logistics Manager
Sarah Shandl – Wide Tide Entertainment – Marketing Manager
Liam Prost – Programming Manager
Shannon Erb - Bookkeeper
BreakOut West Content Committee:
Alex Wyder - High Tide Artists (BC)
Hayley Muir - Femme Wave (AB)
Ila Barker - Artist (MB)
Jesse Reid - Talking Raven Management (NT)
Kesi Smyth - 604 Records (BC)
Kurt Dahl - Murphy and Company (Board Representative) (SK)
Marvin Chan - Triffecta Sound Co. (SK)