\u2018Incredibly humbling and honestly a little surreal,\u2019 said Sudbury musician, who is the inaugural recipient of the Deanna Belair Artist Award after she inspired SPG\u2019s Her Northern Voice music festival<\/p>\n
Sudbury Performance Group (SPG) said it is proud to announce Deanna Belair of Naked Soul as the inaugural recipient of the Deanna Belair Artist Award.<\/p>\n
The honour recognizes her talent, humility and lasting contribution to creating greater opportunities for women in Ontario\u2019s music industry.<\/p>\n
The new award will recognize artists who do more than perform.<\/p>\n
It will honour people who support other musicians, speak up when change is needed and help build a stronger music community. SPG felt there was no more fitting first recipient than the woman who inspired the award.<\/p>\n
Five years ago, Belair encouraged SPG to take a closer look at the musicians it was hiring, noting that many of its performers were men.<\/p>\n
Although the imbalance was not intentional, her thoughtful observation prompted the organization to recognize that it needed to do better \u2014 and to take action.<\/p>\n
Since that conversation, Sudbury Performance Group has added more than 25 regular female musicians to its roster. During the fifth-anniversary edition of Her Northern Voice alone, SPG employed 57 female artists from Sudbury and communities across Ontario.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeana\u2019s honesty started an important conversation that changed our organization,\u201d said Mark Mannisto, president of Sudbury Performance Group, in a press release. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t said to criticize us. She simply pointed out something we had not stopped to notice, and she was right. We needed to do better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deana Belair performs with husband Brian Belair as part of their classic and modern rock\/pop musical duo Naked Soul.<\/p>\n
Sudbury Performance Group said she has long been known within the local music community for both her ability and her willingness to encourage others.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough Deanna is a true powerhouse of talent, she is also extremely humble,\u201d Mannisto said. \u201cShe is the kind of performer who will help someone else rise. That matters to us, and it is exactly what this award should stand for.\u201d<\/p>\n
For SPG, the results of that first conversation are easy to see: more women on its stages, more paid opportunities and the continued growth of Her Northern Voice. The festival, which celebrates women in music across Ontario with a special focus on Northern artists, is now part of Belair\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes a small moment makes a very big difference,\u201d Mannisto added. \u201cDeanna spoke up, we listened and our organization changed. We are proud that she will be the first person to receive the award that carries her name.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an email to Sudbury.com, Belair said having an award named in her honour is \u201cincredibly humbling and honestly a little surreal.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said being the inaugural recipient is incredibly special, particularly because of what the award represents. \u201cThere are so many talented women making music in our community who deserve to be seen, heard and celebrated,\u201d Belair said.<\/p>\n
What makes it particularly meaningful to Belair is how it came about.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a conversation with Mark where I mentioned that, although we have such an amazing music community, there really wasn\u2019t anything specifically highlighting and celebrating women in music,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo see that conversation grow into something as wonderful as the Her Northern Voice Festival, and then to learn that an award recognizing women in music would carry my name, was something I never expected. I\u2019m deeply honoured. I love the idea that this award can shine a light on women who are out there making music, supporting our music community and inspiring others.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018Incredibly humbling and honestly a little surreal,\u2019 said Sudbury musician, who is the inaugural recipient of the Deanna…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,302420,75,341],"class_list":["post-870956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-deanna-belairdeanna-belair-artist-award","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}