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Kristy Fletcher
Business
Kristy Fletcher On Supporting Canadian Music 'From Birth to Myth' at CARAS and MusiCounts: Interview
Amidst a record $1.4 million donation to support music education in Canadian schools, the president of MusiCounts and chief operating officer of CARAS will accept the Impact Award at Billboard Canada Women In Music 2026.
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In her dual role as the president of MusiCounts and the chief operating officer of CARAS, the organization behind the Juno Awards and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, Kristy Fletcher influences every stage of a Canadian musician's career.
Through music education charity MusiCounts, she's there at the beginning, providing access to instruments and musical education to give youth a chance to make music in the first place. At CARAS, she's able to foster and develop the industry and recognize artists at the Juno Awards. That continues all the way until the later stages of their career, when they become Hall of Famers.
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On Nov. 24, Fletcher will accept the Impact Award at Billboard Canada Women In Music, recognizing the important work she does affecting musicians both onstage and in classrooms, from Rush's surprise comeback performance at the 2026 Juno Awards to young students who might be Canada's next breakthrough rock stars.
This year, MusiCounts announced a $1.4 million donation to support music education in Canadian schools, the biggest investment in the company's history. Through the MusiCounts School Music Funding Programs, 96 schools across the country will receive support for their music programs amid increasing budget cuts and deficits in Ontario and throughout Canada.
Preparing to accept the Billboard Canada Impact Award has given Fletcher time to think about the influence her work has throughout the country.
"When you're in it you don't always take the time to reflect that the work you're doing does have a lasting impact," Fletcher says. "It's an incredible honour, and it's given me some time to think about the work I've done. I'm extremely fortunate to work in these places that allow me to be able to have this type of impact and see those tangible results of the work."
Ahead of the star-studded Billboard Canada Women In Music celebration on Nov. 24 at Rebel, Billboard Canada talks to Fletcher about the honour.
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Billboard Canada Women In Music takes place Nov. 24 at Rebel in Toronto and features Cardi B, Summer Walker, Tia Wood, Faouzia, Bebe Rexha and more. Find the full lineup here. Limited tickets are available here.
MusiCounts impacts students throughout the country by providing music programs, access to musical education and instruments. Why is music education so important for you?
It's something that we will always advocate for. We want to make sure that there is a healthy and thriving music education in schools, within communities. We want kids to have access. That is something we will always be working on and pushing through MusiCounts.
Music is such a foundational and fundamental part of development and growth for kids. Think of all of the incredible benefits that music has on kids. It's a way to sort out their emotions or express their feelings and thoughts, and it can improve mental health among youth. We have seen so many studies [showing how] music supports strong and healthy mental health, and develops positive self-esteem. There are studies showing improved cognitive abilities with playing music.
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Ultimately it's about connection. We can do study after study and show the myriad of benefits, but what it really comes down to is connection and kids finding their place in the world, and that's often [done] through music.
With budget cuts affecting music programs in Ontario and throughout Canada, how has that impacted MusiCounts’ mission?
MusiCounts has to be there to help fill in some of those gaps, and the gaps do grow. We've been doing this work for almost 30 years and we've allocated over $22 million to schools and community programs across the country. You would think we would maybe be nearing the end of the work we have to do, and that's just not the case. We're just scratching the surface. But that has allowed us to increase our programming.
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MusiCounts, from the beginning, has been about instrument allocation, but we've moved beyond that in a substantial way. We've done that through resource development and working closely with teachers across the country to make sure that they're meeting students where they're at, and being able to provide music programs that go beyond the traditional band programs. We have recognition programs, we have emerging artists programs, we have mentorship programs.
MusiCounts announced a record $1.4 million investment into music education this year. What does that milestone mean to you and for the company?
We're so proud of that. It’s the most in our history, and we have even more ambitious goals coming up. We're celebrating our 30th anniversary next year, and we have a goal of allocating $3 million. That will be more than double our highest amount, so you will see and hear a lot more about what we plan to do over the next 12 months.
Music can be transformative for kids and it's not offered on a level playing field in Canada. A lot of schools just don't have the resources to offer a music program. When that's the case, students are missing out on so many benefits. Music should not only be accessible in certain areas of the country that might be thriving more than others.
We work in urban areas, but a lot of our focus is on rural areas of the country. I think we've supported nearly every school in Nunavut at this point. Last year we were up in Yellowknife. We work in many Indigenous communities across the country. We have Indigenous advisors leading us to the communities that we might not have the ability to discover.
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How have you seen the results of your work with MusiCounts on a personal level?
We're really lucky that teachers continue to engage with us, long beyond musical instruments [being] allocated, or after one of our teachers has won the Teacher of the Year award [at the Juno Awards]. It could be something as simple as a video of students performing on new instruments, and just seeing the pride in their eyes.
The average school that applies for our funding receives less than $500 a year for their music program. You can't even repair an instrument for $500. Many of these instruments are two decades old.
It's like Christmas. They hand them out to students and want it to be a surprise, so [students] don't know they've applied for or received musical instrument funding. Seeing those reactions and moments is transformational.
You've had a multifaceted career spanning sports, music and education. How has your career trajectory led to where you are now?
I spent over 20 years at Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment [MLSE]. When I left, I was overseeing a sales portfolio of premium inventory for four teams — the Toronto Maple Leafs, Raptors, [Toronto FC] and the Toronto Marlies — but I wanted to take some time [off]. I had never not worked. I had two young kids and for the first time in my life, I wanted to be able to walk my kids to school, be able to reconnect with some friends and prioritize what I wanted to do that was going to fulfill me.
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I knew there was something else out there for me. I definitely took a leap of faith. I bet on myself, and I knew there would be something around the corner. I didn't know I would land in the music industry. After taking a little bit of time and assessing what it is I wanted, I ended up in the CARAS office one day meeting Allan Reid, and I was like, this is where I want to be.
You also grew up in sports as the daughter of legendary former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager and Hockey Hall of Famer Cliff Fletcher. How has living and working in sports informed your perspective as you've transitioned into the music industry?
I spent more than 20 years working in sports and entertainment before transitioning over to MusiCounts, and I suppose that's a direct correlation of my dad having spent his entire career in sports. My brother also works in hockey, [so] it's a bit of a family business. It’s always been a big part of who I am, but it was also an easy and natural transition into the music industry.
As a woman in sports and music, they were very similar. When I was starting out in my career, there weren't a lot of women in boardrooms in the sports industry, and I suspect [that] 20-30 years ago there weren't as many women in the boardrooms in the music industry. In both industries, we've seen such growth and evolution of highlighting women and ensuring women do have these positions of importance and influence. At their core, they're both driven by passion as well.
How has your role and involvement at MusiCounts evolved over the years?
When I started at MusiCounts, I came on as executive director. I hadn't worked in the not-for-profit space for many years, so I saw it as an opportunity to really dig into a new area and learn. It was a relatively small organization, a perfect place to be able to use my varied skillset.
My first five years was really learning about the industry, [about] how we could leverage the industry to really create growth for MusiCounts and create growth outside of the industry within corporate Canada. A lot of people hadn't heard of MusiCounts, didn't understand the work that we do, and I think that's changed a lot over the past decade.
How did your new role at CARAS impact your existing trajectory within the company, in working with MusiCounts?
[The last five years] was getting far more involved in CARAS, which is the Juno Awards as well as the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, [and] helping look at what the future of those organizations might look like.
Just over a year ago, I became chief operating officer for CARAS, but I will not ever give up my role with MusiCounts, even though I've been able to elevate other people within the organization. The work is so meaningful to me, I will not be able to let that go. I'm wearing two hats, but I'm happily wearing two hats.
Working with MusiCounts, the Junos and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, you're able to work with musicians in every stage of their career: from discovery to development to award recognition and eventually canonization. Why is that journey important to you?
We support artists from birth to myth. Through MusiCounts, we're helping young people discover music and experience the benefits of music education. Through CARAS and the Juno Awards, we're celebrating and elevating Canadian artists and helping share their stories with a national audience.
I love that connection between organizations, between supporting young people at the beginning of their musical journey, through that emerging artist phase and then celebrating artists when they've reached the pinnacle and when it comes time to honour them after a lifetime and a legacy of incredible work. All of that is interconnected and to be on both ends of it, so closely, is really amazing.
What are some of the biggest issues in the music industry you're addressing in your work?
The access to quality music education continues to be a challenge. We need to make sure that we are reaching students and schools who are in need.
From an industry perspective, people are engaging with and consuming music in many different ways. The traditional award show format might not be how a younger audience chooses to engage with music. The Junos are not just about one genre of music, it's about all genres, and we need to make sure that we're continuing to honour all the genres while keeping our audiences fully engaged. Those two things are not always aligned with each other.
You have to mount a show that does that and meets people where they're at, whether they want to stream it or whether they want to attend live and in person. I think we do a pretty good job of building a bridge between those two areas and that's something we'll always be continuing to work on.
The Junos had a big year in Hamilton this year, celebrating a lifetime achievement award with Joni Mitchell and opening with a surprise performance by Rush. Even Drake was involved, ending a long absence with the Junos to send a congratulations to Nelly Furtado. Do you find that, amidst trade tensions with the U.S., more listeners and artists are getting behind the Junos?
There are some major artists that we want to celebrate. We want to celebrate the Tate McRaes. Those are massive Canadian success stories, and we want the Tate McRaes to come back on the show. Oftentimes, the artists become global talent and representing Canada on the national awards show isn't always their top priority, but I am finding now — as we're all finding with Canadian pride being as high as I think it has ever been — that artists like Joni Mitchell and Rush want to come back on the Juno stage and celebrate and highlight their work, but also our country.
At the same time, even if Tate McRae wasn't there to accept all the awards she won, she's been at the Junos early in her career. Does that excite you, when you celebrate an artist and then they break through outside of Canada?
That's an exciting part of it. It's a big part of what the Juno Awards wants to do. You want to highlight these legacy artists and these global artists, but you want to bring in the Sofia Camaras of the world. [Sofia] is this incredible young talent. Being able to be a small part of that, even just being able to be witness to it, is really great.
I've gotten to know William Prince through his work with the Junos, and he credits winning his first award at the Junos with helping propel his career, which is so cool. His voice is just so incredible. his presence fills up the room.
The Beaches are so much fun. We've been able to work with them a ton. MICO was fantastic last year. And then there's new legacy artists like Daniel Caesar. We just have so much talent in this country.
What is a piece of advice that you would give to a young woman starting in the music business today?
A piece of advice that I would give young women in any industry: you don't have to have all the answers.
That is something that took me a long time to recognize, especially when you're young and trying to climb the ranks and always want people to think you know what you're doing.
There is huge value in not always having all the answers. It makes you sit back, it makes you listen. It makes you surround yourself with great people and it allows other people to grow. You need to be able to make a mistake because if you're not making mistakes you're not going to learn from it.
Billboard Canada Women In Music takes place Nov. 24 at Rebel in Toronto. Find the full lineup here. Limited tickets are available here.
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