Canada After Dark forum to discuss ‘left-field’ topics to inspire Ottawa, nightlife commish says

Marissa Galko

May 6, 2025

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An upcoming national forum about building a nightlife economy could encourage Ottawa officials to think about how nightlife can be activated in rural areas and on the city’s waterways, among other topics. In an interview with OBJ last week, Ottawa’s nightlife commissioner Mathieu Grondin said the forum, a two-day summit bringing together national and international nightlife experts May 21-22 in the capital, will shine a light on what Ottawa can do to encourage more people to engage in the city’s nightlife. He hopes it will be a “teaching moment,” helping stakeholders and policymakers in the city find ways to make a safer and more vibrant nighttime economy. “We’re also going to reach out to more left-field topics like, ‘What could nightlife look like in rural areas?’” Grondin said. “We’re welcoming an expert from Amsterdam. Her name is Ella Overkleeft and she founded Rural Radicals … Another left-field topic I’m really excited about is how to activate waterways as cultural spaces. We’re welcoming a subject matter expert from Berlin who commissioned and worked on a study … about festivals that happen on boats around Europe.” The first day of the forum will look at various approaches to nightlife with experts from the U.K., Toronto, Montreal and other Canadian cities joining local stakeholders to give insights about what worked for them. The second day will focus on developing rural spaces and waterways, creating quality spaces for nighttime activities, and best practices for nighttime safety. The forum will host Michael Kill, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association for the U.K., and Samantha Mathys, senior policy officer for 24 Hour London and former nighttime economy manager for the London borough of Hackney. “(Kill) is also the vice-president of the International Nightlife Association,” said Grondin. “The INA is present in 28 countries around the world. It’s not present in Ottawa. Part of the reason he wanted to come and visit is to see how Canada could get on board,” Grondin said. Melanie Brulée, executive director of the Ottawa Music Industry Coalition, said she hopes the forum will address many issues facing nightlife in the city. “The discovery of local music is not happening like it used to. People just don’t have the money to go out anymore. The temperature of the political climate right now is not conducive to people going, ‘I’m just going to go and check out some new music’ on a Tuesday night,” she said. Brulée also noted that younger people aren’t going out as much and, when they do, they don’t spend as much money on alcohol – revenue that typically help venues pay for artists. The forum is taking place during the inaugural Capital Music Week (CxMW) in partnership with OMIC. Brulée said she sees CxMW as an opportunity to “activate dozens of partners in different worlds” and encourage people to experience Ottawa in a way they haven’t before. “We’re struggling with this reputation of misinformation. This is our way of activating the city for economic development. It’s part festival, part economic driver. Eventually, I want to turn it into a similar model to Canadian Music Week, Junofest or South by Southwest. We’ve got such a strong tech and film community in Ottawa that I’d like to expand it into those communities,” she said. Erin Benjamin, president and CEO of the Canadian Live Music Association (CLMA), said the forum will “help to reinforce the power and potential of what the nightlife economy represents” for the city. “This is a really important moment for the City of Ottawa to be paying very close attention to this work. We’re a city at a really interesting crossroads. I think our opportunity as the nation’s capital is to not just explore the potential here, but to mine it,” Benjamin said. Benjamin will present the findings of the CLMA’s “Hear and Now” report, which looked at the economic potential of Canada’s live music industry. “We have some really incredibly impressive and important numbers for us to contextualize as we move through the chaos of the current time we’re living in. That will be followed by a fireside chat with myself and the nightlife commissioner, talking about why data matters now more than ever,” Benjamin said.

Ottawa as a “music city”

She added that more venues with a variety of capacities is the key to becoming a “music city.” Benjamin noted that, before History Ottawa was "even a concept," venues such as the Bronson Centre were redeveloped and the city welcomed Red Bird, Queen Street Fare, Live on Elgin, and others. The Rainbow Bistro has continued its "journey as a legendary venue" as well, she added. When it comes to attracting more small and mid-sized shows, Benjamin said that Ottawa is “closer than we’ve ever been before.” Grondin said that Live Nation’s new History Ottawa venue on Rideau Street will fill a gap in the city, but for Ottawa to truly become a “music city,” it needs to have a more vibrant downtown. “We have to develop more density downtown. The more people there are, the more vibrancy there will be. We need people to live downtown so that they can go out to enjoy the restaurants and the pubs, the cocktail bars and venues,” Grondin said. A new arena at LeBreton Flats would help to attract more businesses and make the downtown core more attractive. “When we’re going to have an arena downtown, that’s going to be a huge game-changer. There’s going to be a whole new district built around it, with more restaurants, more parks, more sports bars and more residents living there, too. These are big things that come over time. My job is to make sure the foundations are laid down right so when things move, we can avoid some of the problems that other cities have had when their nightlife grew too fast,” he said. He also said that some by-laws will need to be amended to encourage music in the city. “At Bluesfest in 2019, it was raining and Snoop Dogg started late. He was supposed to play until 11:20 and it ran much later and Bluesfest got fined for that. We’re looking at adding a provision inside the noise by-law that says that if it’s because of weather, it can go a little bit later to avoid that situation again,” Grondin said. Brulée said that policies and strategies at all levels of government must reflect the need to grow the industry. “We’re talking about how to make sure that people on all levels of government and from grassroots in the community to established organizers are working together with the intention to embed music into the fabric of the city,” Brulée said. Brulée said she’s heard people compare Ottawa to Nashville, but she doesn’t think it’s a just comparison. “People are saying Nashville North. I like to say ‘Austin (Texas) North’ because there’s creativity. There are a lot of similarities between Ottawa and Austin, namely the very strong tech community,” she said. Grondin said that the upcoming forum is just the beginning when it comes to hearing what nightlife stakeholders around the country and the world have to say about how Ottawa can become a nightlife destination. “We’re the only city in Canada that has an action plan that was voted on unanimously by city council. We’re the only city in Canada that has a nightlife office and a nightlife commissioner,” he said. “Ottawa has this small-town vibe and it’s a part of its charm. It’s easy to reach out to people and people are really engaged in this thing. They want nightlife to thrive,” he said.