Wavelength Music is a non-profit arts platform that presents concerts, festivals, and conversations about music and city-building in the Toronto area. Established in 2000 by a collective of indie musicians, Wavelength supports emerging and under-recognized artists across diverse genres, curates immersive event experiences, and leads transformative research and development projects.
Who We Are
Hey, we’re Wavelength. We’re a team of artists, curators, and organizers who are passionate about our local music scene. We started out as a DIY collective of indie musicians who wanted to build more excitement about music made in the Toronto area. 20+ years later, we’re driven by that same ethos of discovery, community, and accessibility.
Why We Exist
We believe in music and local music scenes. Originality transcends genre, and music builds powerful connections between people. Artists need space to perform and create, now more than ever. And we want to create gathering spaces that are safe and welcoming — to transform music communities.
What We Do
We present diverse, curated live arts experiences with music at the core. We animate unconventional spaces and build a stage for under-represented artists. We seek out the best new music in indie, electronic, experimental, hip-hop, jazz, world and beyond — but really, we’re genre-agnostic.
We present intimate, affordable concerts year-round and uplift the local music community with boutique-scale festivals in the winter and summer seasons. We deepen the understanding around independent music through talks and workshops, and help advance the sector with R&D projects. As a non-profit, we hold ourselves accountable to the community and operate with an ethos of transparency, integrity, fair pay, equitable representation and environmental responsibility. And we want to preserve and document local music culture for future generations.
Brief History
Wavelength Music was founded as a grassroots, artist-run collective in 2000 by a group of like-minded independent musicians in Toronto. Starting out as a weekly “pay-what-you-can” concert series on Sunday nights at now-defunct club Ted’s Wrecking Yard, accompanied by a free monthly photocopied ’zine that interviewed the artists playing the series, from day one Wavelength was all about accessibility and discovery. Since then, the Wavelength Music Series has presented over 850 events supporting more than 2,000 artists.
From Broken Social Scene, Constantines, Feist and Hidden Cameras during the indie music explosion of the early 2000s to Backxwash, Cadence Weapon, Grimes, Haviah Mighty, METZ, Maylee Todd and the Weather Station in more recent eras, internationally recognized Canadian artists across a range of genres played key early shows on the Wavelength stage.
After the conclusion of the original weekly series after a 10-year run in 2010, Wavelength transitioned into a monthly format, expanding to produce more festivals and events in non-traditional venue spaces, such as arts centres, bike shops, churches, and woodworking studios. Our year-round programming includes two annual festivals — the Wavelength Winter Festival and the Wavelength Summer Thing — alongside a monthly concert series and talk events including workshops and panel discussions. Expanding into R&D projects in the 2020s, Wavelength has taken the lead on initiatives to transform the live music sector.
To learn more about our history, visit our historical timeline.
AUDIENCE POLICY
Wavelength respects the rights of each member of our diverse audience and is committed to providing an environment in which everyone can feel safe. Any behaviour which could reasonably be perceived as physically, emotionally, or mentally harmful to individuals at Wavelength events will not be tolerated. This includes: racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, body shaming, ableism, ageism, and all forms of violence.
KeyCHANGE PARTNER
Wavelength is a participating partner in Keychange, a global network and movement working towards a total restructure of the music industry in reaching full gender equality.
Canadian Creative Industries Code of Conduct
Wavelength is a signee of the Canadian Creative Industries Code of Conduct: http://readthecode.ca/contact/
NON-PROFIT STATUS
Wavelength Music Arts Projects is incorporated as a not-for-profit arts organization, business number 85004 8158 RT0001.