Patti SchmidtCA
Immersed in Canada’s independent, underground music and contemporary art communities for more than 25 years, Patti has been running labels, performing, making radio and programming events. During her 20 years at CBC Radio she is best known for her tenure as the host and executive producer of Brave New Waves—a national, nightly, new music program which specialized in music and culture from the fringes and the future. Following its cancellation in 2007, she continued to front various CBC radio programs and remained involved in illuminating music, arts and culture across Canada and the world.
She programmed ten editions of the MUTEK Montreal festival as curator, producer and editor, where she programmed artists, live performances and exhibitions, special projects, conceived and produced discursive activities and symposia, and spearheaded the festival’s gender and diversity initiatives. In 2016, as Artistic Director she developed the Convergence: Electronic Music + Visual Arts Residency at the Banff Centre. She has also narrated several feature films and other projects, including the Canadian theatrical release of the cult modular synth doc, I Dream of Wires.
She continues to work in digital arts, music and culture for a variety of organizations including The British Council and its international Amplify Initiative, connecting women creators across Latin America, Canada and the UK; Pride Toronto, researching safer space practices in Queer underground nightlife contexts; and for Envision Management and Production where she provides digital arts consulting, works in the Artist & Development department, Global Outreach, and is part of the design team and programmer for The Pathwaves Digital Literacy Incubator, for musicians. Since 2022, she also sits on the board of MTL 24/24, an organization that advocates for Montreal’s nightlife as a new frontier for innovation.
WHEELIE HOUDINI (Dj)
With DJ roots that extend to community radio in the late 80s, to hosting and producing national late night new music program, Brave New Waves on CBC radio for almost 2 decades, she also played in bands, while running a couple of indie record labels. Dedicated to danceabilities, Mrs. Houdini favours styles that cross the house-techno axis with dub, funk, experimental and beyond.
