I'm back here in my hometown, Montréal. My French was never great, and forgot a lot after 20 odd years of not using it. I did re-learn a lot with Loretta Stone, but nothing replaces conversation. Anyway, I've been back three years and it's been extremely difficult finding work. Without being fluent in French (And English for a lot of good jobs) I've only found entry-level work.

To find work as a musician, you have to be very good and know a lot of people. People performing music full-time is pretty rare here. Unless you're looking to teach music, have a Phd. and experience, it's probably not going to happen. Maybe if you're thinking of some kind of working holiday arrangement, and are willing to work in restaurants...

 

Last edited: Aug 8, 2019

hey canadian how are you?

 

This may be the single most ignorant comment I've ever read on this forum. Toronto hosts one of the biggest film and television production hubs in the world - a very large slice of the theatrical releases and television shows you watch were shot and posted in either Toronto on Vancouver., and film set diversions are a constant feature in the traffic reports. There are also huge tech and gaming hubs in Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver that employ thousands, including artists and designers, composers and sound designers, and tech incubators that have been drawing creatives away from the US for the past ten or twelve years as American xenophobia has made Canada appear a lot more appealing. The canuck music recording industry is also massive - I won't bore you with the endless list of famous musicians you didn't know were Canadian (quoting this list is an annoying Canadian habit). The theatre and entertainment district in Toronto attracts tourists from all over the globe and practically has its own area code.

Where it IS getting harder to survive is as a live music performer in large Canadian cities, especially in Toronto and Vancouver, where the cost of living is very high and, not unlike their US counterparts, there aren't as many live clubs as there used to be. But hey, there's good public education and free health care, it's pretty gay-positive, race is not the ogre it is in the states, you can spark up a doob on the street, and you're much much less likely to get shot. So there's that.

 

20 Years ago maybe. But to be fair. One can definitely make a living working on a film/tv crew IF you have the connection to get in..(much better chance than music)

This is true

Now this is just funny ridiculous .All your famous Canuck musicians "made it" or got signed through the states. Stars/Metric/BSS/Arcade Fire and many more all had to move to brooklyn to get noticed. Bieber/ Nickleback/The Weekend/Drake/ Celine Dion- all signed through the States (Oooof what a list) . Same goes for actors/comedians. And notice that not one person that makes it big comes back to live in Canada.

No better than Buffalo's theatre scene

That's all quickly disappearing with the Nazi/Trump type politics in Ontario/Quebec/Alberta and soon Federal

Yes you can. And still have 99% of the people around complain.It might be legal but it's not politically correct. Canada is a drinkers country

17 Shootings in Toronto last weekend alone.

This is what I was getting at mainly. Cuz we musicians around here. And that's what the OP was asking about.
And for musicians ha. Even if you have success in Canada (only)(blue Rodeo-Tragically Hip) , you could make what a office assistant makes monetarily.

 

Last edited: Aug 12, 2019

It's obvious that you aren't very familiar with the professional entertainment industries in Toronto. I teach in a professional film school where we struggle to hang on to students long enough to complete their final year before the industry steps in and snaps them up, ya that film industry that was only thriving "20 years ago". Ditto for recording programs - graduating talent is getting work, and while it's not quite the all-hands-on-set boom that the film scene has seen here for at least 12 years solid, there's a continuing thirst for solid studio talent. AS for performing musicians, yes, many talented musicians struggle here, but your contention that the entertainment industry in Canada is nowhere implies that musicians elsewhere are living in some lucrative daily-gig Shangri-la, and that just ain't the case. Talented, busy, professional musicians I know in New York have just as hard a time paying the rent. In smaller music centres like Nashville and New Orleans the cost of living is a bit less, but the scene can be quite brutal - most clubs don't give a lot of really good acts any cut of the bar and they're basically living on tips. Musicians struggle EVERYWHERE. That said, FACTOR grants and other talent development tools have helped stir the pot in this country. The tiresome trope that Canadian talent must move south to survive is dated and silly. It's true that many still do, but many refuse, and do fine. Most of the acts you mentioned relocated after they achieved success, mostly for tax reasons.