A short list of women and gender non-conforming Canadian artists

ETA: In addition to this list, please check out all of the wonderful artists who’ve been added in the comments below! 

Every time I bring up the idea of gender parity at festivals, some bright spark says ‘but there aren’t enough women performing music these days!!’ or ‘I don’t know where to look!’ or ‘I tried. but they were allllll busy!’

To save your selves from looking stupid in front of your colleagues in the music industry, here’s a short list of some women and gender non-conforming Canadian artists that you should be paying to play your festivals.

(We know that the larger agencies in Canada are basically useless with regards to women artists; they rep a handful, but generally don’t pay much attention to what women are doing in the music industry until they’re forced to. Bookers need to look beyond the artists that a major agency can suggest until these agencies decide to join us in the 21st century.)

Sometimes festivals with a very low percentage of women in their lineups tell us they’re trying to book more women; we’re here to tell them to try harder.

Artists, we’ve of course missed hundreds if not thousands of women – please chime in with a link to your work in the comments below!

alvvays, Land of Talk, Snowblink, Winona Wilde, Digging Roots, Eekwol, Anh Phung, Renders, Evangeline Gentle,  Shakura S’Aida

Maylee Todd, Purity ring, Rose Cousins, Emily Burgess, Zaki Ibrahim, Dirty Dishes,  Suzie Vinnick, Leela Gilday, Inez Jasper

Charlotte Day-Wilson, Sarah Harmer, Stars, Lowell, Dani Nash, Fefe Dobson, Ventanas, Dana Sipos, Susan Aglugark 

Kathleen Edwards, Allison Brown, Weaves, The Beaches, SC Mira, kd lang, Flavia Nasciamento, LCon, IsKwé, Kinnie Starr

Julien Baker, Case/Lang/Viers, Beyries, Gathering Sparks, Repartee, Fiver, Elisapie Issaac, Leanne Goose, 

Bernice, Haviah Mighty, Blunt Chunks, Michie Mee, Young Galaxy, The Jerry Cans, Joyful Joyful, Tara Williamson

Lido Pimienta, Duchess Says, Kristine Schmitt,  The Luyas, Crystal Shawanda, Rae Spoon,  Tracy Bone

Michelle McAdorey, Camille Delean, Julie Doiron, Ali Fontaine, Moscow Apartment, Korea Town Acid

Witch Prophet, Lindsay Beaver and the 24th Street Wailers, July Talk, Connie Caldor, Common Deer, Aerialists, Christa Couture

Kaia Kater, Irish Mythen, Tasha the Amazon, Samantha Martin and Delta Sugar, Sarah Jane Scouten, Amelia Curran, Cris Derkson

We’re also going to refer you to Witch Prophet for a great list of that she tweeted out and which was posted in NOW Magazine as ‘Witch Prophet lists 30 women leading the Toronto rap game.’

ARTISTS: If we’ve mis-gendered you, please let us know and we’ll correct it immediately.