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Applications Open for the 2025 Indigenous Music Mentorship Program
First Nations, Métis, and Inuit musicians based in Northern Ontario invited to apply for six months of one-to-one counsel with established artists!
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Cultural Industries Ontario North (CION) is excited to announce the return of the Indigenous Music Mentorship Program - now in its third year - to provide one-on-one, personalized mentorships for rising musicians who identify as First Nations, Métis, and Inuit and who are based in Northern Ontario.
Applications are open until Friday, October 17, 2025 at 5:00 PM (ET). Click the link below to access the form!
Virtual Mentorship Sessions
Three (3) successful applicants will be selected by a jury of program Mentors and access monthly, one-on-one virtual meetings with an experienced Mentor, where they will work together to map out artistic goals and begin actualizing proven career growth strategies over a 6-month period.
Mentors will base their selections on artistic suitability and potential for greatest impact.
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Adam Sturgeon
Adam Sturgeon – Lead singer and Anishinaabe community worker – is the driving force behind the band Status/Non-Status. Defined as “non-status” by the Canadian government, Sturgeon’s identity is rooted in the complex history of his family. His grandfather enfranchised to join the Armed Forces and become a Canadian citizen, creating a legacy that Sturgeon confronts in his music and work. His artistic journey is deeply intertwined with raising awareness about the impact of colonization, while he strives to reconnect with his Anishinaabe/Potawatomi roots and community. Committed to analyzing and questioning colonial systems of oppression, his work aims to reflect on the struggles of his people and offer a path toward healing.
Sturgeon’s work, including the celebrated Polaris Prize Long Listed album Warrior Down (2019) and the Socan Songwriting Prize-nominated follow-up 1,2,3,4,500 Years EP (2020), tackles themes of nationhood, trauma, and familial memory. His collaboration with Daniel Monkman (Zoon) in Ombiigizi led to the 2022 Polaris Prize Shortlist, a Juno nomination for Alternative Album of the Year, and helped soften the blow of the intense personal exploration in Sturgeon’s own music. His second album with Status/Non-Status, Surely Travel, builds on these themes, focusing on identity, indigeneity, and resilience, embracing the small victories of healing and self-discovery.
Amanda Rheaume
Amanda Rheaume’s music tells stories of Métis resilience and resistance, spanning centuries. With a gutsy, guitar-driven style and lively Métis fiddle, her heartland rock preserves history, sharing moments of Métis joy, strength, and struggle. Her latest album, The Truth We Hold (April 2025), explores pivotal events in Métis history, from landmark court cases to silenced injustices, emphasizing interconnectedness across time and place.
Rheaume is a 2025 King Charles III Coronation medal recipient, a 2024 Spirit of Folk Award recipient, a 2023 Canadian Folk Music Award winner for Indigenous Songwriter of the Year, and Capital Music Awards’ Album of the Year honoree. With six albums released, she’s also a key advocate for Indigenous music. As co-founder of Ishkode Records, the first ever Indigenous female owned record label in Canada, the International Indigenous Music Summit, and the Indigenous Music Office, Rheaume is dedicated to fostering Indigenous sovereignty through music, ensuring its stories endure and inspire.
Olivia Shortt
Olivia Shortt is a noisemaker, sound designer, wannabe fashion icon, video artist, and composer. Shortt is an Anishinaabe off-reserve member of Nipissing First Nation and of Irish descent through their mother.
Described by Musicworks Magazine as a “glittering, rising star in the exploratory music firmament”, Shortt was named by the CBC as one of “6 Indigenous composers you need to know in 2024”. Shortt has performed at The Whitney Biennial (NYC), The Holland Festival (Amsterdam) and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (Washington, DC) as well as send+receive (Winnipeg), Cluster (Winnipeg), New Music Edmonton, The Music Gallery (Toronto), Open Ears (Kitchener-Waterloo), Open Waters (Halifax), to name a few. Iconic moments include appearing and playing saxophone on CBC Kids’ ‘Gary the Unicorn’ and Atom Egoyan’s 2019 film ‘Guest of Honour’, as well as lending their voice off-screen for Stephen King’s film ‘In the Tall Grass’ and Season 3 of Syfy’s ‘Chucky’. Recently, Shortt was Artist-in-Residence at Carleton University’s Music Department and the University of Toronto’s Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, and is currently Artist-in-Residence at the University of Toronto Mississauga Campus at the Indigenous Creation Studio. Shortt is a graduate of the University of Toronto and Dartmouth College (USA).
Paid Showcase at NOMFA 2026
The 6-month program will culminate in a paid, live music showcase with Mentees and Mentors at the 2026 edition of the Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards (NOMFA) in Sudbury, Ontario, played for a crowd filled with artists, commisioners, and producers who specialize in Canadian music, film, and television.
Also included in NOMFA 2026 conference programming will be a dedicated networking event where program participants and supporters can celebrate and promote Indigenous excellence within Northern Ontario's artistic sectors.
Cultural Industries Ontario North would like to acknowledge the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek and the Wahnapitae First Nation, for their stewardship of the land on which its office is situated. We recognize their history and profound relationships with this land, our communities, cultures, and the artistry of storytelling through music.