Independent Music Festival Diapason, happening in Laval every year since 2008, is back this year with a whole new formula. Comprised of two separate events, it now runs almost all year long, with two main events held in July and October.

What started as a small contest to support emerging artists from the Laval, Lanaudière and Laurentians regions more than 10 years ago grew bigger in 2008. That’s when director general and artistic director of the festival, Patricia Lopraino, decided to bring it to another level. Her organization La Centrale des artistes, a multi-disciplinary service centre, is coordinating the whole festival project as well as many others.

With $25,000 in prizes, including studio hours, time with a press relations agent and much more, the Festival Diapason contest is back this year, stronger than ever. For the participating artists as well as audience members will get a lot for their money.

For as low as $35 for the day, including a full meal, the Centrale des artistes puts together a full educative experience for artists wanting to give this field a try.

A few hundred lucky people will get the chance to partake in a series of workshops with acclaimed people from the industry, including some from the cultural sphere in Laval, from renowned disc companies to bookers, and much more. This will be followed by a happy hour to help with the networking.

“Let’s say you’re an artist who’s just beginning in the field, and maybe you even have your first album,” explains Jean-François Rioux, programming assistant for the Festival, “Maybe you don’t have a manager, or you may not know where to perform, or how to find a disc company to produce your music or someone to distribute it. It slows down your career a little, so we put this workshop day together to allow emerging artists to have all the speakers here at once to give them advice to kick-start their career.”

Last year on October 17th, the special evening Diapason at the Maison de la culture Mercier, took place in Montreal’s Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough. It was a free concert bringing together the winners from the 2011 and 2012 editions of the contest as well as the Coup de Coeur band of 2013, Cherry Chérie.

The Festival Diapason contest closed last year after three days on October 18th, at the Maison des Arts de Laval with stand-up comedian Bruno Ly as the host. In an attempt to encourage artists from the region, the contest organizers decided to choose and listen to at least 50<>percentage<> of artists from the regions of Laval, Lanaudière and Laurentiens. However, this limitation to artists of the region might disappear, since the Festival is looking into opening the contest to everyone.

The jury selects 30 artists to audition and give all of them live comments to improve their performances. Of these 30 auditions, five finalists are selected and compete in that contest. The audience can vote for their favourite ones, rating them on a scale from 1 to 5.

Last year, while the judges counted the votes, headlining artist of the evening, Dany Placard, performed songs from his latest album, as well as those that got him known in the past few years. Placard has been regularly involved in the festival in the past years, first as a contestant, then as a judge. Finally, the evening ended with a late-night barbecue party for everyone starting at around 11 P.M., with the band DeuxLuxes performing live while the audience enjoyed beer and hot-dogs.

For the first time ever in the history of the festival, will happen in the summer, from the 9th to the 12th of July, 2015. If you are an artist who would like to showcase at the festival, you can apply and have a chance to perform. However, a full festival programming is also designed with big names on big stages. There will be both paid and free concerts.

“What’s great with the showcasing part is that we try to find unusual venues for our shows, such as a laundry place, a café, a bookstore, any small shop willing to be involved,” explained Jean-François Rioux. “All these venues are in the Sainte-Rose area of Laval, and are all mostly located in a 500-meter radius from one another. It allows people to discover emerging bands as well as local shops.”

Rioux says that one of their main goals is to fill up both the contest and the festival, now that they are two separate events. They want people to talk about both as their own individual thing, making sure that one does not overshadow the other. Their ticket system is now independent from a ticket office. You can buy your tickets online for a small $1 fee.

In the meantime, make sure to check out the concerts happening once every two or three months until the festival, to give you a foretaste of what to expect. Make sure to be on the lookout for the Coup de Coeur artist, selected through a partnership between numerous emerging music festivals around Quebec. The selected artist will get to tour and perform in all the festivals throughout the summer.

For more information on the contest and the festival itself, visit www.festivaldiapason.com.