Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Duncan McCallum, PhD Candidate, Musicology, Western University
Algonquin College in Ottawa recently announced that it’s suspended its Music Industry Arts (MIA) diploma program.
Despite MIA having a robust graduate employment rate, the program was cut as of March 2026 amid broader institutional restructuring.
The Ottawa Music Industry Coalition notes the program is deeply integrated with the city’s live music, festival and events ecosystem — a local cultural scene where music attracts and retains talent across sectors, as well as contributing to the Ottawa nightlife and overall cultural vitality.
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The news from Algonquin follows other closures or suspensions of post-secondary music programs in Ontario including the closure of programs both at Cambrian College and Laurentian University in Sudbury. These closures affect infrastructure that sustains local music scenes.
Music programs in Canadian colleges and universities support local musical ecosystems. Popular music studies scholars have long argued that music scenes are more than just collections of artists or venues. They are cultural spaces where contemporary musical practices interact and coexist with an area’s heritage.
As programs continue to restructure or close across the country, the impact is felt both in local music scenes and the across the Canadian music industry.
Musical ecosystems
A city’s musical identity thrives through repeated interactions among musicians, audiences and institutions — including music schools.
Research on cultural ecosystems suggests that institutional collaboration is crucial to sustain vibrant arts production. This is especially the case as music and the arts face increasing pressure from shifting funding models and post-pandemic austerity.
Colleges and universities in many smaller cities act as anchors within local music scenes. They provide performance space and access to networking within the community. Perhaps most importantly, they provide continuity through a steady influx of new student musicians each year.
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Music scenes rely on institutions
In some parts of Ontario, the infrastructure for this continuity in arts scenes remains strong. London, for example, became Canada’s first UNESCO City of Music in 2021 in part because of the local music programs offered by Western University, Fanshawe College and the Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology.
These institutions contribute to the training and networking of musicians in London and facilitate consistent performance opportunities for both local and international talent.
The result is a dense and active music ecosystem in a wider arts community that is supported by a continuous relationship among education, performance and industry.
Importance of music education
The City of Hamilton saw the suspension of Mohawk College’s applied music program in 2023.
One might think that Hamilton’s proximity to Toronto, with large venues like the newly renovated TD Colosseum that hosts major music events — including this year’s Juno Awards — would offer a degree of protection for music education.
The Juno Awards broadcast now also showcases the MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award, presented by Anthem Music Group. The award names an exceptional music teacher — in the recognition that music programs and music education are “often considered an afterthought rather than an essential component of every young person’s education.”
Max Kerman, lead singer of the Arkells, who presented the award to Hamilton elementary teacher Raquel McIntosh, noted:
“All the musicians here know this is the most important award being handed out tonight.”
This award was given in a city that no longer offers a college music program. Indeed, Mohawk College’s program suspension suggests how performance-based arts education and infrastructure are vulnerable throughout the country.
Local program closures create longer-term out-migration from music scenes, and effectively are one catalyst forcing musicians to consolidate in few large urban centres like Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver.
Broader shift in arts funding, education
While the situation in Ontario specifically seems dire, across Canada, arts and music programs are facing similar pressures with shifting funding models, changing enrolment patterns and rising operational costs.
Music programs that require specialized equipment and one-on-one instruction are especially vulnerable.
At the same time, Canada’s live music industry continues to rely on the skills these music programs provide. Performance, production and arts management are all essential components of every local arts economy. These program closures create a growing disconnect between where music training occurs and where music labour is needed.
What’s at stake for Canada’s music industry
When programs like Algonquin’s MIA disappear, it removes a key piece of arts infrastructure that allows a local scene to reproduce itself economically and culturally. Music alone contributed $60 million to Ottawa’s GDP in 2021.
Tara Shannon, executive director of the Ottawa Festival Network, says MIA’s closure is “devastating for festivals in a sector that is already under considerable financial strain.” The closing of an anchor program like MIA raises questions about the future of the music ecosystem in Canada’s capital city.
Critics warn that Canada’s music industry is already at risk due to funding pressures and structural challenges.
Music scenes do not simply survive on talent; they depend on the institutions that sustain them.
Duncan McCallum does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
– ref. Local music scenes across Canada depend on post-secondary music programs – https://theconversation.com/local-music-scenes-across-canada-depend-on-post-secondary-music-programs-278934