Behind the pandemic : Navigating a new way of experiencing music
[This article is part of the Behind The Pandemic series published on Cult MTL. It was originally published on November 19, 2020.]
POP Montreal’s Haben Tekie on mounting the festival this fall, just before the red-zone clampdown.
When COVID-19 started becoming an issue, Haben Tekie was in the midst of hosting the Listening Sessions for the 2020 edition of POP Montreal. When confinement started, the weekly sessions had already stopped for a week and she and her team weren’t concerned about the festival.
“When we did the switch online, we didn’t think it would impact us until September, but then it did!”
It was quite the journey for Tekie, who works as the artist relations and ticketing director at POP Montreal, and her teammates. As the music industry started to crumble and major festivals cancelled their 2020 editions, the uncertainty creeped up to the local music scene. Nonetheless, the 19th edition of the established festival still happened — barely.