Tegan and Sara are using their status as 2017 Juno nominees to bring up an important issue.
The openly gay twin indie-pop duo published a short essay on their official website addressing the lack of gender diversity represented at this year’s Juno awards. Tegan and Sara first thanked the Junos for the sisters’ three nominations: “Songwriter of the Year is of particular significance to us, because no matter which genre our individual albums have fallen into, it is the craft of songwriting that has connected them all.”
They next looked back on their first Juno award win in 2014: “Standing on that stage accepting an award in front of friends, family, peers, fans, and industry alike was an extremely moving experience. As queer women who have been out since the beginning of our career in 1998, this hasn’t always felt like the most inclusive industry. But that night in Winnipeg has continued to stand out to us as a watershed moment.”
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With that being said, and with “absolutely no judgment of each nominee’s well-deserved accomplishments”, the 36-year-old musicians pointed out the lack of women nominated at this year’s Canadian awards show. “We take this moment to address the disappointing number of women nominated in many of the various categories,” Tegan and Sara wrote.
“In eight categories no women were recognized at all, and in over 12 additional categories, only one in five of the nominees included a woman. Specifically in the areas of production and engineering, it is discouraging to not see a single woman represented,” the duo explained.
Tegan and Sara called on the movers and shakers to actively improve diversity in the music industry, “We bring this message to members of our industry who have tremendous power to sign, fund, promote, nominate, support, acknowledge, and celebrate the diverse population of our country working in the arts today.”
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“The demographic breakdown of Juno nominations reflects the structural confines of our society and industry. We must do better as it sends an outdated message to the next generation about whose art and voice and message is valuable.”
“We write this message today in the hopes that we can all work towards balancing the scales for women, people of colour, and LGBTQIA artists and bands in our country in the years to come,” they conclude.
And some artists may be concerned with speaking out, “but we wouldn’t be Tegan and Sara if we didn’t speak our minds about this important issue.”
Following the siblings’ missive, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS), which presents the Junos, issued the following response: “CARAS respects, encourages and leads change on the most important issues facing our industry. In that spirit, we have started a dialogue with Tegan & Sara on the points they raised about diversity in our industry at large, and are looking forward to working together to make continued positive changes for the future.”