More Than a Showcase: Celebrating MAEP Generation 3

# More Than a Showcase: Celebrating MAEP Generation 3

There are artist development programs, and then there are programs that remind you why artist development matters in the first place.

I recently had the opportunity to attend the Generation 3 showcase for the Mi'kmaq Artist Emergence Program (MAEP) at Alderney Landing, and by the end of the night, one thing was very clear:

These artists had put everything into this week.

Seven Days of Music, Mentorship and Growth

MAEP began in 2024 and brings emerging Indigenous creatives from across Mi'kma'ki together for an intensive week of mentorship, collaboration, cultural learning, wellness and music creation.

Generation 3 took place in Dartmouth from August 22 to 28, and the showcase gave us the chance to see what all of that work had led to.

The evening started with some light snacks in the lobby of Alderney Landing before everyone made their way into the hall.

There were heartfelt thank-you speeches before the night's host, Cody Coyote, took over. Returning for his third year as a MAEP mentor, Cody spoke about what an emotional week it had been and how hard every artist had worked.

We wouldn't have to wait long to see it.

From Spoken Word to Heavy Metal

The performances started with Liam Trefry, who delivered a powerful spoken-word piece that immediately set the emotional tone for the evening.

Then Cherise Basque kept the tears coming with an incredibly emotional song. One line from the chorus in particular stayed with me long after the performance ended:

"They're preying on the innocent."

The night wasn't all tears, though.

Dakota Paul, aka Mon'et, gave us one of the funniest moments of the showcase with a standout hip-hop comedy song that had the room laughing.

Then there was Tyra Paul.

Tyra stepped onto the stage as a girl rocker who had never performed before. You absolutely would not have guessed it from watching her.

She killed it.

Returning for his second year, Thunder Thomas brought an emotional rap performance to the stage. His freestyles are deeply rooted in his own life experiences and carry the weight of the ancestors who came before him.

We also got music and dance from Des, adding yet another style of performance to an already incredibly diverse night.

And then, somewhere in the middle of all the emotion, storytelling and laughter, Keefe Denny hit us with a heavy metal breakdown.

We headbanged. The horns went up.

That dude ROCKS.

It was one of my favourite things about the entire showcase. Nobody was being pushed toward one definition of what an Indigenous artist is supposed to sound like.

Spoken word, hip-hop, rock, rap, dance and heavy music all belonged on the same stage.

Indigenous artists aren't a genre. They're artists.

A Night Built Around Emerging Artists

There were more performances throughout the evening, along with a showcase from DeeDee Austin, before Cody returned for what has become an annual song at MAEP.

Then everyone came together for one final performance.

Only days after the music world lost Dolly Parton, the Generation 3 artists closed the showcase together with a tribute to the late country music legend.

After a night that had already moved between tears, laughter, storytelling and headbanging, it felt like a fitting way to bring everyone back onto the stage together.

Mentorship Is Music Infrastructure

What stayed with me most after the showcase was how much can happen when emerging artists are given an opportunity.

Talent alone doesn't build a career.

Artists need people willing to share knowledge. They need opportunities to record, perform and collaborate. They need connections to an industry that can be incredibly difficult to navigate when you're standing on the outside of it.

Sometimes they simply need someone to give them a stage for the first time.

Watching Tyra perform knowing she had never done this before was a perfect example of why those opportunities matter.

At Sable Audio, we talk a lot about building music infrastructure. Usually that means rehearsal rooms, recording spaces, venues and digital resources.

But mentorship is infrastructure too.

So are education, cultural connection, collaboration and opportunities to be heard.

MAEP brings those things together while creating space specifically for emerging Indigenous artists to figure out who they are and what they want their art to sound like.

Generation 3 Should Be Proud

Every Generation 3 artist should be incredibly proud of what they accomplished.

Getting onstage and sharing something you've created is vulnerable at the best of times. Doing it after an intense and emotional week, and for some artists doing it for the first time, takes guts.

The founders, mentors and entire MAEP team should be proud too. They pulled off another incredible year of a program that gives emerging artists an opportunity to learn, create, connect and be heard.

Supporting artists has to mean more than supporting the people who happen to use Sable Audio.

It means showing up for the wider music community and recognizing the people and organizations doing meaningful work within it.

So from everyone at Sable Audio:

Congratulations to the Generation 3 artists and the entire MAEP team.

We can't wait to see what comes next for these artists, and we sincerely hope there are opportunities for Sable Audio to support MAEP and its community in the years ahead.