IN CONVERSATION: ALLAN REID, HEAD OF THE JUNOS

Here, the CARAS president and CEO talks about his memories of past JUNOS in Hamilton, what he looks forward to about this year's event, and why Canada's national music celebration matters more than ever.

Allan Reid, president and CEO of CARAS (Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences), has made great memories in Hamilton. 

His first JUNOS after taking the helm was the last time this city hosted in 2015. 

And way back in 1995, when Hamilton hosted for the first of three years in a row, Reid was Jann Arden’s A&R (artist and repertoire) representative at Universal Records when she won Female Vocalist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, and Single of the Year at Copps Coliseum. 

Those JUNOS were only the second time they had ever been held outside of Toronto and the first time fans could buy tickets. That changed everything, says Reid. It was in Hamilton that The JUNOS made the shift to a public – and national – celebration of the best in Canadian music.

“Hamilton has an incredible history with the JUNOS. Prior to 1995, the JUNOS were always held in what was then was called the O'Keefe Centre. And it was an industry affair. About 3,000 people would come out, and it was very polite and people would clap, and it was all great, but there were no fans. When artists get up and perform, the energy is now very different with fans in the room,” Reid, a native of Kelowna, B.C., told HAMILTON CITY Magazine.

“The JUNOS history is directly tied to Hamilton and building that arena show, which we have now been on tour with since 2002. It has gone to different cities all across Canada, back and forth, and it's been transformational.”

It has allowed CARAS to really build upon and augment the local music scene in each city, from St. John’s to Vancouver. Now cities bid to serve as host for the event. The economic impact is real, says Reid, topped by the $17.5 million out of last year’s JUNOS in Vancouver.

“All those people who travel from the music industry, from our sponsorship teams, obviously the artists themselves, they're all going out for dinner, they're going to bars, they’re staying in hotels, they're going to music venues, they're in Ubers. So all of that, along with all the music fans who come to take it in, that throws off a significant economic impact for the city each year.” 

Reid says CARAS is intentional about working with local representatives to build a legacy of The JUNOS that lasts well beyond the event. 

In 2015, Hamilton wanted to move past its image as Steeltown and embrace being The Ambitious City.

“A big part of the reason they wanted The JUNOS to come there is the gentrification that was starting in downtown Hamilton. James Street North was not then what it is now, but it was beginning. And so they really wanted to bring The JUNOS to show Hamilton to the nation, but also to show it to the music industry, particularly artists who were finding it harder to live in Toronto.”

Supercrawl had become a cultural force by then and hosting The JUNOS again, for the first time since 2001, “was a big cultural moment to have us come and shine what we call the national spotlight.”

This time around, Hamilton gets to show off its transformed downtown arena, now called TD Coliseum, along with an ever-evolving foodie scene, and the addition of residential towers. The JUNOS are a key event in the City of Hamilton’s City of Music campaign, as well as in the development of a nighttime economy strategy.

“Coming back to the city and seeing cranes in the air and all the new buildings in the downtown core, and I know there's more coming,” says Reid. “Hamilton is a growing city.”

Reid, who is married to singer Kim Stockwood and father to two, says he’s looking forward to seeing Arkells perform in their hometown. It will be their sixth time on The JUNOS stage. “Arkells have performed so many times, and they're so electrifying, and it's going to be special in that new arena when they get on the stage.”

Awarding icon Joni Mitchell a Lifetime Achievement Award and inducting Nelly Furtado into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame will be special highlights. 

SEE ALL OUR JUNOS COVERAGE HERE!

But The JUNOS is about so much more than the Sunday awards ceremony, says Reid. He encourages Hamiltonians to get out to enjoy all that the greatest week in Canadian music brings to town. That includes The JUNO Kickoff Concert, the Songwriters’ Circle, the JUNO Awards After Party, and JUNOfest.

Reid says the latter, which will bring local and national artists to multiple stages in the city, is a special chance to make musical memories.

“You never know who's going to show up in one of those music venues late at night when someone else is on the stage and hop on and join them.” 

Spanning its MusiCounts school program to making inductions to The JUNOS, the mission of CARAS, says Reid, is to support artists from birth to myth. 

“We give them their first instrument, and we see them through the trajectory of their career to hopefully end up one day in the [Canadian Music] Hall of Fame.” 

MusiCounts has a special place in Reid’s heart. It was where he landed in 2011 after a 26-year career working his way up in the music business. He says he had become disillusioned and needed a change. Heading up MusiCounts for three years “was the most rewarding experience in my life.”

The musical charity has distributed close to $20 million in instruments and equipment to schools and communities across Canada.

“We say it is truly the foundation of what CARAS is built on. Because if kids don't have that opportunity, and they may not all become professional musicians, but they'll learn to appreciate music, and that will be with them for their life,” says Reid. 

In addition to educating future generations, and celebrating and honouring Canadian artists, CARAS is also dedicated to artist development.

There are times where the impact of The JUNOS is so clear and tangible, says Reid, and that’s the case with folk singer-songwriter William Prince who will perform at the awards this year and is nominated for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year. He won that award in 2017 and 2024. 

Prince, an Oji-Cree musician from Peguis First Nation in Manitoba, was struggling to make ends meet and hustling to get noticed when he was asked to sing at a CARAS industry event a decade ago. He performed his beautiful hit “Breathless” during an in memoriam segment honouring those who had died during the year. He got a standing ovation.

“William sang ‘Breathless’ in that beautiful baritone he's got, and the room was just transfixed and crying,” recalls Reid.

A few months later, Reid was at the Western Canadian Music Awards in Edmonton and Prince’s agent made a beeline over to him. She said that performance had changed Prince’s life. 

“She said, ‘From the minute he left your stage, for the last three months, every manager, agent, promoter, record company, publisher, has been talking to us about how we can work together.’”

Out of that came a record deal with Glassnote Records out of the U.S., which manages Mumford and Sons and The Strumbellas. 

“I've had multiple chances to see William over the years, and he's never forgotten that opportunity. He created that moment. He was the one singing. He wrote that song. But we got in front of the right people at the right moment.”

In times such as these, when things might not make sense and the world feels uncertain and even dangerous, music is a force of comfort, escape, unity, hope, and protest. And this year, as Canada rallies around its sovereignty and leadership in the world, when Canadians are displaying their patriotism perhaps like never before, The JUNOS are a critical cultural touchstone.

“Your culture is what defines a nation, and it's who you are as people and it's the values you bring,” says Reid.

“To lead an organization whose sole job is to elevate, promote and celebrate Canadian artists and the works they make, I often say that this is the best job in the music business.”