Sweet Accolades

In late July, Toronto’s Massey Hall filled with music lovers. It was a night of celebration, not just of the 18 artists who took the stage to fill the iconic concert venue with their incredible voices but of a movement—one that has been 30 years in the making and was started by just one person.

Ebonnie Rowe launched Honey Jam in 1995 as a showcase for female musical artists and talent and a celebration of hip hop culture. It was a platform and community for women artists before Lilith Fair, the internet and social media. And “the whole thing happened by accident,” Rowe says.

After starting a mentorship program for Black youth, Rowe heard from female mentees in the program about the effects they were feeling from misogyny that was common in hip hop music at the time. She got in touch with DJX, who had the biggest hip hop radio show at the time, and that initial concern evolved into her own radio show, then a magazine and a launch party for the magazine. That party was called Honey Jam.

It was clear from the response to what was meant to be a one-off event that there was a need for more. And so Honey Jam has evolved. Along with the annual concert, Rowe introduced workshops to educate the artists about music production, licensing, publicity and more, vital to the success of a music career. “It was just a blank canvas to figure it out. And a lot of the figuring-it-out had to do with the needs of the artists, because that’s who it was there to serve,” Rowe explains.

Planning for both the concert and the curriculum starts more than a year in advance. “I’m thinking about what we are going to do, what time of the year and what elements can be improved. And while we’re finishing the programming for the current year, I’m applying for funding for the next year,” Rowe says. While this is under way, she’s also navigating opportunities with community partners like the Toronto International Film Festival—”things throughout the year that we can extend as opportunities and experiences to the artists.”

Key to expanding the impact of Honey Jam has been opening up the opportunities for artists to audition and get involved in the program. Live auditions—one minute per artist—are held in Toronto in June, but dates are announced in January. “We start promoting to the outside provinces first, for the people who want to come in person and might need to apply for a travel grant or figure out how they’re going to do that,” Rowe says. Artists can submit virtual auditions, and in 2024, Rowe held live auditions in Montréal too.

Artists who make the cut, typically 15 per year, join a prestigious group of women. Alumni from the program include Jully Black, Nelly Furtado, Michie Mee and Tasha T. “It’s a sisterhood,” Rowe says of Honey Jam today. “It’s an incubator. It’s a platform, a stepping stone, a place to learn and grow and network.”

As with many arts organizations, the future depends on funding. But Rowe is determined to continue the legacy she launched three decades ago. “Once I decide I’m doing something, I’m all in,” she says. “I’m a disciple of Malcolm X. He said, ‘By any means necessary,’ and I live that. I don’t know how to turn it off.”