International Visitors at ECMA '98

The East Coast Music Awards are always a great opportunity for the region's musicians to showcase their work to the local and national industry. This year, on the awards' 10th anniversary, they'll have a chance to reach people around the world.

Thanks to an international delegates program, funded in part by the provincial-federal Nova Scotia Years of Music, 15 music industry professionals from around the world will travel to Halifax to join the 2,000 delegates registered for ECMA '98 from Jan. 28 to Feb. 1.

The international visitors represent all musical genres and a variety of music professions, from producers, publishers, festival organizers and record company executives to distributors and music industry media. They will participate in a series of seminars entitled Take Us to the World! designed to help East Coast artists expand their audiences overseas.

"We are thrilled that we have been able to attract the calibre of visitors that we have," said ECMA chair Tony Kelly. "We know that the music on the East Coast represents some of the best in the world, and these delegates will take that message home with them."

"Nova Scotia's music represents some of our most inspiring exports," said Manning MacDonald, Minister of Economic Development and Tourism. "This international delegates program should help us get more Nova Scotia music to more listeners abroad."

The Nova Scotia Years of Music is a two-year marketing and promotional program designed to build interest and awareness in Nova Scotia as a cultural tourism destination and to expand and build upon the success of the province's booming music industry.