The Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) Awards are being presented just up the street at Rogers Place on September 14, and with MacEwan University’s strong ties to country music, our students, faculty and staff are already celebrating.

And the nominees are…

This year, five MacEwan alumni are nominees for the Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) Awards. Two MacEwan alum are vying for Video of the Year – Jeff Dick, Accounting Technology ’03 and Music ’93, and Doc de Groot (Andrew de Groot), Music ’98.

Musicians Brendan Lyons, Bachelor of Music in Jazz and Contemporary Popular Music ’16 and Ryan Davidson, Music ’03, are up for Drummer of the Year and Guitar Player of the Year, respectively. 

And Dan Davidson, Bachelor of Commerce ’13 and Music ’03, is repping MacEwan in the Country Personality(ies) of the Year and Creative Team or Designer of the Year category. 

Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees!

On campus and in the community

MacEwan’s effort to create a Distinguished Visiting Artist in Country Music campaign has brought several country musicians into classrooms and on campus throughout the past couple of years. The campaign cabinet co-chair, Dr. Jackie Rae Greening, who received an honorary doctorate from MacEwan in 2022, is also chairing the host committee led by Explore Edmonton in partnership with the CCMA. 

Jaelyn Birch, a sessional instructor in the Bachelor Communication Studies program, had her BCSC 431 students partner with MacEwan alum Kaley Beisiegal’s Bird Creatives consulting company to produce social media content – reels, video clips and photos – for Country Music Week. Their work included promoting the CCMA Country Crawl, which stopped at the Downtown Campus Block Party on September 4 with a live performance by Canadian country-rock duo Flaysher.

And the university is continuing the momentum leading up to the 2024 CCMA Awards and celebrating the art of country music songwriting as an official venue partner for the CCMA Songwriters Unplugged Series, presented by SOCAN with Apple Music. The series of three sessions on September 11, 12 and 13 will showcase original songs and the stories behind them. Twenty lucky MacEwan students will receive complimentary tickets to participate, and members of the public can buy tickets at https://tickets.macewan.ca.    

For more information on CCMA nominees and events, visit https://ccma.org/edmonton-2024/.