Author: Kevin Bourne

With the growth of social media, smartphones, and streaming services like YouTube and Soundcloud, it’s never been easier to become an “influencer” or even a celebrity. This is good in the sense that they’ve democratized creativity and taken power out of the hands of big industry players and made building a career in acting, music, media and writing accessible to so many people. It has also allowed talent to have a direct relationship with fans and has allowed fans to decide what’s hot and what’s not. But there’s also a downside. First, the bar has been lowered when it comes…

This past weekend marked the 2018 edition of Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend and it was a record breaking affair. Ethiopian runner Gelete Burka broke Canadian and women’s records in the Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon, finishing with a time of 2:22:17. Her fellow Ethiopian Yemane Tsegay dominated the men’s field with a time of 2:08:52. The top Canadians were Tristan Woodfine who won the men’s race with a time of 2:18:55 and Kait Toohey who won the women’s race with a time of 2:45:07. “This year’s field of elite women started fast and sustained an impressive pace through much of the race,” said Manny…

August 14th, 2016, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Kolin Kaepernick, sits on the sideline during the playing of the American national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality. This past week, almost two years later, the NFL owners and commissioner Roger Goodell have come full circle in declaring a ban on all on-field protests during the Star-Spangled Banner. What this means is NFL players can no longer kneel, sit or act out any other display that would be considered as disrespectful to the flag. However, players now have the choice to be present or sit in the locker room for…

President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama continue to break ground long after leaving the White House with the announcement they have entered into a multi-year agreement with Netflix to produce films and series. Through their new production company Higher Ground Productions, Obama produced projects may include scripted series, unscripted series, docu-series, documentaries and features. While it is customary for former presidents to venture into content following their presidency, usually in the form of book deals, this is the first time we have seen a former president sign a film and television deal post-presidency. President Obama said of the…

Amir Zargara recently released his latest capsule collection “It’s Hunting Season” with a launch event and installation at his store in Ottawa’s Byward Market. Zargara had planned to use the designs in a collection for over a year, but they didn’t really fit. He jotted down some titles and ideas in his phone, but it wasn’t until he watched the film “Begin Again”, a film he watched many years ago that was recently added to Netflix, that he got the spark. “Two phrases from a song in the movie really resonated with me. One being ‘it’s hunting season’ and another being…

When you think Nando’s the first thing that comes to mind is chicken and maybe the last thing is music, but the two have more in common than you think. Early month the international dining chain announced that the annual Nando’s Music Exchange workshop would be expanding to Canada through a partnership with The Remix Project. The program was launched in the U.K. after expanding to Australia and South Africa last year. The program allows promising and up and coming artists the opportunity to connect with chart-topping artists and industry experts over four days. Past mentors include Ella Eyre, Urthboy, Dope…

This past weekend marked the 2018 edition of Ottawa Comiccon, the premiere pop culture fan event in Canada’s capital. Over 40,000 visitors attended the event, now in its seventh year, to take in the best of comics, movies, TV horror sci-fi, video games toys and manga in over 120,000 square feet of space at the EY Centre. Not typically known as a celebrity hotspot, Ottawa attracted an impressive list of celebrity guests including Justice League, Game of Thrones and Conan The Barbarian star Jason Momoa, and Finn Jones of Iron Fist and Game of Thrones, Matt Smith of Dr. Who, Brent…

Belinda “Kamshuka” Barrocks recently had the opportunity to sit down with designer Shanté Renee Roline, founder of Vanity Couture, a luxury swimsuit line that recently made its mark at Fashion Art Toronto. Here’s what she had to say. Kamshuka: What initially drew you into the fashion industry? Shanté Renee Roline: My sister and I had a dress up box growing up full of all my mom’s old vintage clothing, lace accessories and even heels far too big for us to be wearing. We used to have the time of our lives with that thing. Dress up transcended into dressing up…

Joyner Lucas, who’s been building some momentum with his remixes and Chris Brown collabs, performed at The Bourbon Room in Ottawa after performances in Montreal and Toronto for the Canadian leg of his I’m Kind of a Big Deal tour. Ottawa is used to getting passed over by artists so it’s always good to have a stop in the capital. This is a show that was on my radar for a while. After a few years of “mumble rap” dominating the scene, artists like Joyner Lucas are making lyricism hot again as the pendulum slowly swings back to the East Coast.…

Donald Glover just had one of the most important weekends of his career. He hosted SNL as Donald Glover and performed two new songs under his musical persona Childish Gambino. Although this was a rare moment in Saturday Night Live history (hosts rarely ever double as musical guest; such is Glover’s brilliance), the best part of the last few days was the release of possibly the most important music video in our current socio-political climate- This is America. This is a genius creative project put together by one of the greatest creative masterminds of our generation (peep the label “creative…

Sunandini Verma is one of those people that radiates confidence and draws you right in. From a very young age, her parents instilled in her she could do absolutely anything she put her mind to. Business and entrepreneurship has been a part of her life for as long as she could remember. Sunandini shares her journey from working in the corporate world and realizing it just wasn’t for her; she felt unfulfilled. Her strong will and determination led her to set out and do something she knew would make her happy, and AMREV Media was born. Her company offers a…

This weekend I attended the ALSO Arts Law Conference where artists learned about the legal side of their industries. They covered topics like Labour and Employment law, Succession Planning, and Tax Issues for artists and included panels made up of industry vets in music, film and the fine arts. The conference was hosted by the Artists’ Legal Services Ottawa, also known as ALSO, a group of volunteer lawyers, artists and arts industry professionals dedicated to connecting Ottawa-area artists with legal information and resources. Many creators, including me, underestimate the value of understanding the law, but it’s very important. As a creator you…