CFC WELCOMES FIVE MUSIC CREATORS TO THE 2016 SLAIGHT MUSIC RESIDENCY

Toronto, September 25, 2016 – The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) and The Slaight Family Foundation are pleased to announce that five talented music creators have been selected to participate in the fifth year of The Slaight Music Residency. Aimee Bessada, Spencer Creaghan, Rebecca Everett, Neil Haverty and Chris Reineck will begin their work this week; together, they have credits that span diverse media, including film, television, advertising, digital/webseries and virtual reality. During the Residency, they will expand their onscreen work, elevate their craft and collaborative skills, and build career and business strategies for their work in the screen-based entertainment industry.

“The Slaight Family is committed to championing Canadian artists, creating opportunities for them to flourish creatively while also earning a living,” said Gary Slaight, President and Chief Executive Officer, Slaight Communications Inc. and patron of The Slaight Family Music Lab. “The CFC’s Slaight Music Residency has had such a positive impact in just four years and I can’t wait to see what comes next.”

The Slaight Music Residency, chaired by Academy Award-winning film composer Mychael Danna and Juno Award-winning singer-songwriter Marc Jordan, is a part-time, nine-month creative and business initiative for composers and songwriters that encourages the complete integration of music creators into the onscreen process while offering unique business opportunities to increase the use of Canadian music in film and TV. It provides musicians with advanced knowledge on how to effectively translate their musical talent to onscreen applications and helps develop, package and launch their unique musical vision. The Slaight Music Residency is supported by the Slaight Family Foundation, the Government of Ontario, the Screen Composers Guild of Canada and the Songwriters Association of Canada.

“The CFC is proud of its alumni and their successes,” said Larissa Giroux, Executive in Charge of Music and Acting Programs, CFC. “Since leaving our doors, over 82 per cent of our alumni from the Slaight Music Residency are working in film and television, and making meaningful contributions to content here in Canada and abroad. We’re looking forward to developing the year’s group and integrating them into the CFC family.”

Since its inception in 2012, the Slaight Music Residency has significantly expanded professional opportunities and networks for its songwriters and composers. Some alumni successes include the composer duo Joseph Murray and Lodewijk Vos who comprise Menalon (2014) and have scored one series, eight feature films and 14 short films. Michael Peter Olsen (2014) performed and arranged several tracks on Drake’s album Views. Writer, producer and music creator Casey Manierka-Quaile (2015), a classically trained pianist, is currently performing and producing with Zaki Ibrahim on her forthcoming album. Ben Fox (2014) scored two short films for the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. Singer-songwriter Adaline (2013) wrote a song with fellow alumnus Todor Kobakov for the season two finale of Bitten, has music from her album Modern Romantics featured on Grey’s Anatomy, and wrote a song for the much-buzzed about feature film, Below Her Mouth, which premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.

Past mentors and guests of the Slaight Music Residency include these luminaries: composer, conductor and producer Lesley Barber (You Can Count on Me, Mansfield Park); composer Christophe Beck (Frozen, Edge of Tomorrow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer); composer and Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences member Charles Bernstein (Inglourious Basterds, Kill Bill: Vol. 1); composer Sean Callery (24, Homeland); Grammy award-winning producer, conductor, arranger and composer Quincy Jones (In Cold Blood, producer, Michael Jackson); acclaimed singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk; award-winning scoring mixer John Rodd (The Last Samurai, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine); Academy Award-winning composer Howard Shore (Spotlight, Lord of the Rings); eight-time Academy Award Nominee and songwriter Diane Warren (Silver Linings Playbook, Moulin Rouge!).

The new 2016 Slaight Music Residents are:

• Aimee Bessada has toured internationally over the course of a decade-long career as a multi-instrumentalist andsongwriter in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto. She has opened for artists like Cyndi Lauper and Sia, and performed at various events and festivals, including the Venice Biennale in 2013. Bessada’s 2015 solo debut was the EP A Dream, A Coast, co-produced with Grammy-nominated Linda Perry. It showcases her unique sensibility and musical range through a blend of folk pop, grunge and beach wave. Bessada has been highlighted on VH1, and her songs have been featured in a range of commercials, television spots and short films. Recently, she applied her talents as a songwriter/composer to a BravoFact short film Stake in 2015, which screened at both the Whistler Film Festival and Toronto’s Inside Out LGBT Film Festival.
• Spencer Creaghan is a composer, orchestrator, songwriter and producer. Creaghan’s work spans media, including film, theatre, webseries, video games, advertisements, film company bumper-logos and a children’s theme park. His music has been heard in festivals such as TIFF’s Canada Top Ten for Cupid (2016), the Cannes Film Festival for the short film Legs (2013), the LA Webseries Festival for Teenagers, and both the Hamilton and Toronto Fringe Festivals for the theatrical productions of Here and Drafts. Creaghan has received awards for his music, including the 2015 Reel Music Awards for his score to The Priest, the London Music Award for Favourite Composer in 2012 and SOCAN Young Audio/Visual composer awards for the following: Best Score, Fiction in 2015 for the short thriller Lola and in 2013 for the short Accursed; Best Score, Non-Fiction in 2013 for the documentary short The Dirigible Journey; and Best Score, Animation in 2014 for One Way. Creaghan is a sought-after orchestrator for pop and heavy metal artists like Lindsay Schoolcraft, Devilment, and Mirellia.
• Rebecca Everett has co-written songs in Canada, the United States and Europe. She was a writer for the radio single, “I Remember,” on Shiloh’s JUNO-nominated album, Picture Imperfect. Everett had a placement on Jimmy Rankin’s Forget About the World, which also received a JUNO nomination. Her music has been featured on television series, including Degrassi: The Next Generation, Lost Girl, CH Live and Next Star. Everett has also collaborated with songwriters like Gerald O’Brien, Alex Greggs (N’Sync, MIA, Lady Gaga), Mike Rose (producer for Simon Fuller) and David Foster protégé Renee Olstead.Everett recently released her third EP Seven Shades, and was invited to perform with her band Dead Ringers at SXSW in 2016.
• Neil Haverty is primarily known for his work as co-founder of Toronto alt-folk “nontet” Bruce Peninsula. Bruce Peninsula has released several critically-acclaimed LPs, including the Polaris Prize-nominated A Mountain is a Mouth), and they have headlined shows at South by Southwest, Halifax Pop Explosion and the Dawson City Music Festival. Haverty’s transition into film began in 2012, when Bruce Peninsula contributed to the soundtrack for Ed Gass-Donnelly’s film, Small Town Murder Songs. Since then, Haverty has composed music for numerous short and feature films, most recently for Tim Blackburn’s Australian suspense film, Burns Point, and Andrew Cividino’s Canadian coming-of-age hit, Sleeping Giant, the latter of which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. He recently completed work on both a solo LP, to be released under the Understudy moniker, and a new full-length EP with Bruce Peninsula.
• Chris Reineck is a composer for film, television and advertising. He got his start playing drums in rock and jazz bands and orchestras. Reineck began writing for television advertising after a recording session at TA2 Sound + Music in 2011, and since then has worked on projects for Lincoln, Rice Krispies, Stella Artois, Under Armour and Ford. In 2013, Reineck was a writer for the Bolthouse Farmscampaign song,“Cravings” and “Matt Bonner Anthem”with Jeff Lurie and Ryan Malcolm of Canadian Idol. He wrote the music for the film, The Nigerian (Director, Ben Goloff), which screened at Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois. Reineck has written songs for the YouTube series, Super Science Friends, and recently he wrote and produced the music for Vibrant Marketing’s LGBT Activation (Montreal Pride).

The 2016 Slaight Music Residency begins this week in Toronto. For more information about The Slaight Family Music Residency, please visit: http://cfccreates.com/programs/24-the-slaight-family-music-lab.