20 Years of Polaris: A Celebration in Sound, Story, and Song
Photo by Sara Melvin
Twenty years ago, Polaris set out to champion music as art — to celebrate Canadian albums based on merit, not metrics. Two decades, 700+ honoured artists, and over $1.4 million in prizes and artist fees later, we’re still here, still listening, and still believing in the power of music to move a culture forward.
To mark our 20th anniversary, we’ve launched the first-ever Polaris Music Prize Festival presented by SiriusXM Canada. It’s a province-wide series of listening sessions, salons, concerts, and afterparties that amplify the boundary-pushers who’ve defined the last two decades of Canadian music — and hint at what’s next.
There’s Shad spinning favourites at a café the night before the ceremony. Cadence Weapon DJing in a room full of dinosaur bones. Katie Stelmanis (Austra) and Casey Mecija (Ohbijou) leading a modular synth workshop. And more than 15 other events from Belleville to Hamilton to downtown Toronto.
The festivities culminate at the Polaris Concert & Award Ceremony on September 16 at Massey Hall, where we’ll honour the year’s most artistically bold Canadian album, reveal the winners of the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize, and, for the first time ever, crown the inaugural SOCAN Polaris Song Prize recipient.
The SOCAN Polaris Song Prize, created with SOCAN (also celebrating a milestone — their 100th anniversary), recognizes the most artistically significant Canadian song of the year, and awards $10,000 split between its Canadian performers and songwriters. It’s the first new Polaris category since the Heritage Prize in 2015 — and a reminder that even after two decades, we’re not done evolving.
To help make the Polaris Concert & Award Ceremony feel like a proper celebration, we’ve added something new this year: a commemorative photo experience for guests. The photo wall — you’ll know it by the big Polaris logo and the line of friends waiting for their moment — was made possible thanks to Snaptique, experts in photo booth rental in Niagara and beyond. It’s a small way to let our guests take a memory home with them (and yes, we do recommend an outfit that photographs well under stage lights).
It’s been 20 years of albums, arguments, discoveries, and applause. Whether you’ve been with us since Owen Pallett or just found us through Bibi Club — this celebration is yours too.
And bring your camera roll.
