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Canada House at SXSW
Touring
Canadian Independent Music Association Pulls Out of SXSW Amidst ‘Instability’ In the United States
With President Donald Trump’s looming tariffs on Canadian goods and threats to annex the country, CIMA has decided not to go forward with its festival-staple Canada House showcase in 2025.
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One of the top showcase opportunities for Canadian musicians at SXSW will not take place this year.
The Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA) has cancelled its Canada House event at the upcoming Austin, Texas music festival amidst rising political and economic tensions between Canada and the United States.
Andrew Cash, CIMA’s president and CEO, describes the decision as a confluence of various factors, mostly related to the relationship between the two countries since Donald Trump began his second term as U.S. President.
That includes the 25% tariffs placed on goods from Canada set to kick in on March 12, which falls during the dates of this year’s SXSW (which runs from March 7-15), as well as Trump’s repeated threats to annex the country.
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“The growing instability of everything in the United States right now, plus the high cost [of putting on events in the United States] and the low [Canadian] dollar – all of these things combined made it so we couldn’t feel confident or good about what we were getting ourselves into at this particular moment,” Cash tells Billboard Canada.
“The timing is not great,” he continues. “We would be going down there just after the 30-day tariff pause has expired. We're going to have a new Prime Minister [in Canada, following the resignation of Justin Trudeau]. I just didn't feel comfortable putting CIMA out there in that context of instability.”
For more than a decade, Canada House has been a pivotal exporting opportunity for Canadian bands and artists at the influential American music festival. Taking over the Swan Dive music venue, it offers opportunities for Canadian musicians and entrepreneurs to network and showcase at an event well-attended by members of the local and international music industry. CIMA had planned to host a one-day daytime music showcase on March 12.
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Other networking events, panels and shows are still scheduled to take place, including at the Canada Innovation Lounge at the Fairmont Hotel in Austin sponsored by crown corporation Telefilm Canada, which funds and supports the country’s film and TV industry.
CIMA made the decision to pull out of SXSW late last week (Feb. 13), sending emails to partners and invited artists informing them that they would not be producing the event this year.
Applications opened last fall, and four Canadian and Indigenous acts had been sent offers to play CIMA’s Canada House showcase. They learned of the cancellation last week.
Vancouver based hip-hop artist Kimmortal was one of those acts. Kimmortal’s manager, Elise Roller of Misfit Music Management, says she was surprised to learn of the event’s cancellation after hearing in January that the artist would be invited to showcase. She says she had been waiting on confirmation to send out invites and schedule live musicians. CIMA did not give a specific reason for the cancellation, she reports, instead citing “circumstances beyond our control.”
“My initial reaction was frustration,” says Roller. “We have another official showcase, so it’s not like we have nothing, but we had been holding out for this one. Canadian managers and artists, we bank on the fact that Canada House is happening. It’s got on-the-ground support and their brand behind it. It’s a great room and it’s got a good reputation, so it’s disappointing to see that decision being made with a lack of transparency.”
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Roller says her dealings with CIMA have been generally positive, and that they act with honesty and respect for artists. However, she says, communication issues are a broader problem with Canadian music organizations that entrepreneurs rely on for support and often funding.
Kimmortal and all of the other musicians who had been invited to play at Canada House had already been officially booked to play SXSW and had at least one other official showcase, says Cash, which was part of the rationale in pulling out of the event. CIMA made the call on their own and for their own staff, and didn’t want to discourage Canadian artists from playing the festival themselves.
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“I know that artists go to great lengths to go to South By, and we take that very seriously and our team works very hard on that. The decision was absolutely not taken lightly,” he says. “We do recognize this may be disappointing for the artists and their teams. We come with integrity and care for the artists and their teams that we work with, and we made this decision in that spirit.”
At its heart, he says, it was a timing issue. CIMA didn’t have the luxury to wait and see.
“We don't know what the climate is going to be,” he says. “It felt potentially dissonant to be going down to Texas and hosting an event called Canada House while the President of that country is essentially stating his intent to annex our country…We made the decision based on what we could control, because there’s so much about this situation that we can’t.”
Roller understands the toughness of CIMA’s position and the political nuances this situation brings. However, she says, she wishes the artists had been consulted or asked their feelings.
At a time when Trump criminalizes immigrants and signs executive orders to delegitimize gender expression, she says, music is a great tool for advocacy and protest.
Kimmortal is a queer, non-binary Filipinx-Canadian artist, and 75% of their fanbase comes from marginalized communities, Roller says. On top of that, their audience is five times larger in the United States than in Canada.
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“The majority of Kimmortal’s fans are marginalized Americans who need to hear their message of hope and solidarity through art,” Roller says. “It’s an uncomfortable and scary time, but backing away from using our voices to empower value-aligned audiences is exactly what the Trump administration is hoping for. They win if we run.”
CIMA is still offering Canadian bands spots at networking events with other international music offices and export partners from Australia, England, New Zealand and other markets. And though the Canada House showcase is on pause for 2025, they could still bring it back in future years depending on the geopolitical situation.
In the meantime, Cash says CIMA will focus its resources and investments on other international markets and for opportunities within Canada. This will not affect the organization’s other Canada House activations at the German festival Reeperbahn, British festival The Great Escape or SXSW Australia.
Cash says he hopes that the situation in the U.S. is resolved soon, as it is Canada’s biggest export market – not just with music, but for many sectors of the economy.
“I think everyone understands that we're in unprecedented times,” says Cash. “And I think everyone is unsure exactly how to react.”
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