On August 27, 2018, the Director of Operations for The Edmonton Music Awards, Mikki Dublanko, announced that they removed the Male Artist, Female Artist, Group of the Year, and Artist To Watch categories.
This announcement certainly stirred the pot and created a lot of misunderstood controversies. While most of the community supported the decision and believe that it is a progressive move towards a more inclusive and community minded awards ceremony, others faced it with extreme adversity claiming it was ‘insignificant’ and ‘a joke’, without adding anything constructive to work off of.
“The decision to eliminate the Female and Male Artist of the Year is about our culture evolving and gender lines finally being erased,” says Dublanko. “The EMAs must genuinely reflect the members of our community, and moving away from gender-identifying awards is something we’ve been discussing for some time.”
It is clearly written that the plan is to create equal opportunity for all artists of each genre to enter into the awards and be judged on a more equal and fair basis. So, what’s the problem? To be honest, after reading all of the commentary, I don’t actually know.
One thing that I don’t think people realize is that the entire crew that operates the Edmonton Music Awards is completely volunteer based. That is from the directors to the judges. Every person involved is a professional of the music industry and each of the directors put in hundreds of hours into putting on a show that really promotes and supports the Edmonton Music Scene every year.
The whole thing started in 2011 at a small venue called The Haven Social Club, which moved to the Royal Alberta Museum and is now currently at The Winspear. In the 7 years of operation, they have grown exponentially, offering more and more to the community from recognition, publicity and opportunity.
Their mission statement reads:
‘The Edmonton Music Awards was created with one singular purpose… to enhance our music industry through an annual event that celebrates, showcases and promotes Edmonton artists and their music.’
And they have yet to deviate from this. In fact, their current announcement stays true to their purpose and focuses on the needs of the community itself.
Thank you Edmonton Music Awards for working so hard for our music community!
The Edmonton Music Awards Move A Step Closer to Equality and Inclusivity
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