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Residencies

PHI NORTH

The residency

PHI North is a residency designed for Canadian-based musicians offering a unique opportunity for artists to delve into and fine-tune their musical projects.

The program provides a two-week creative retreat at a riverside lodge in the Laurentian mountains, complete with exclusive access to a recording studio and technical support from an in-house engineer. This residency enables artists to break away from their daily routines and wholly focus on the exploration and experimentation of their artistic pursuits.

PHI North recognizes and thanks SiriusXM Franco for their support.

Selected artists

HONEYDRIP (She/Her) & PYNE (She/Her)

This duo of producers comes together for the first time during the PHI Nord residency. Honeydrip has been a notable name in the Montreal underground electronic scene for almost a decade. Having built her reputation in the burgeoning rave scene, she is now a revered bass music producer, DJ, and sound system builder. Her practice is heavily inspired by dub, reggae, and dancehall, which she hybridizes and explores to create futuristic bass music. PYNE is the alluring solo venture from Caribbean-Canadian music artist and researcher Alanna Stuart (Bonjay, Queer Songbook Orchestra). PYNE is in the thick of what she dubs a ‘Femmehall’ practice: a feminine approach to dancehall production. Over the course of her shapeshifting music career, she’s opened for Etta James, The Bug and Little Dragon, remixed Diplo and produced Jamaican music legends Sly & Robbie, and collaborated as a vocalist and arranger with Junior Boys, U.S. Girls, Jeremy Dutcher, and others.

MOPAO MUMU (She/Her)

Montreal-based singer-songwriter from the Congolese diaspora, Mopao Mumu grew up in South Africa and owns a sound that varies between several musical styles, with a focus on soul, RnB and Afrobeat. Influenced and deeply marked by great female musical figures who seem to have been forgotten by the great history of music on the black continent, Mopao Mumu wishes to highlight and celebrate their major contribution to African cultural and artistic heritage. Based in Montreal since 2011, Mopao Mumu made the decision to launch her musical career, in 2020, with the single “Take me”. Since then, she has performed at Ausgang Plaza, Belmont and Balattou. She has collaborated with well-known artists from the Montreal art scene such as Pierre Kwenders, DJ Karaba, Lou Phelps and Nico de Andrea.

Evan Shay press photo by Francis Leduc Bélanger

EVAN SHAY (He/Him)

Evan Shay is a saxophonist, producer, and composer based in Montreal. He completed a Master’s Degree in Jazz Performance at McGill University, where he was presented with the Graduate Excellence Fellowship Award. While earning his Bachelor of Music, also at McGill, he was awarded the prestigious four-year Seymour Schulich Scholarship, and he earned the top distinction of Outstanding Achievement in Jazz Saxophone. In 2019, Evan attended the Banff International Workshop In Jazz & Creative Music, directed by Vijay Iyer and Tyshawn Sorey. He released Autoroute EP in October 2023, presented at a show through L'OFF Festival de Jazz de Montréal. The title track was featured by CBC Music in "Songs you need to hear".

Photo: Francis Leduc Bélanger

DVTR

In the past 6 months, DVTR has definitely been shaking up the Canadian punk scene, racking up dazzling reviews, best of 2023 lists, soldout shows and some bootlicking awards for their first ever EP “BONJOUR” (Hello!). Somewhere between the B-52’s and Jay Reatard, the troublemaking French-speaking duo and its unpredictable antics breaks all language barriers, on stages everywhere from Mexico to the UK. This is fast music: short and not sweet at all: it repeats, it repeats, it repeats – that’s the only way to get the message across. Not for the faint of heart.

Photo: Ariana Molly

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PHI North 2024-2025

Residency location: Laurentides, Québec, Canada
PHI North residency duration: 2 weeks

Schedule overview

PHI North Session Artist #1:
June 18 to July 3, 2024
PHI North Session Artist #2:
August 22 to September 6, 2024
PHI North Session Artist #3:
October 17 to November 1st, 2024
PHI North Session Artist #4:
January 23 to February 7, 2025

The dates above may be subject to change according to the artist's and space’s availability.

What artists are saying

"[PHI North] really helped us evolve as artists; we discovered things about ourselves that we didn't know before.”

— Prince Kouame, member of Sliber, PHI North 2023-2024

“I allowed myself to truly explore various working methods; it's truly a creative 360°! It has really allowed me to validate myself as an artist in my own eyes.”

— Shah Frank, PHI North 2023-2024

"As we suspected, PHI North was the perfect place to birth our collective. The absence of external pressures paired with the abundance of time, resources and people who care, was the ideal formula for creativity and exploration. We had a really productive and restful time while finding community."

— Moon & Piu, members of Cosmic Cosmic, PHI North 2023-2024

“The PHI North Residency is a creative haven where time no longer exists and ideas are awakened.”

— Annie-Claude Deschênes, PHI North 2022-2023

"This residency was a turning point. For me, there is a very marked before/after, and this, on several levels. I am happy to have been able to crystallize fragments of this experience in my new project."

— Mehdi Bahmad, PHI North 2022-2023

“I salute the initiative of PHI North to create an artistic centre that reflects the needs of today's musicians. Outside the tumults of the city, a new approach to creation was revealed to me, guided by an idyllic and intimate context. An invaluable experience that I will carry with me from now on and whose fruit will never cease to enrich my practice."

— Gene Tellem, PHI North 2022-2023

“PHI North is a place where dreams come true. In a space that is so serene, we were able to reflect on and awaken to what is truly important in the recording process - feeling joy in creating, embracing the waves of the musical process, eating well and resting, taking care of our bodies, taking care of each other, connecting with nature, and just simply being together!”

— Thanya Iyer, PHI North 2022-2023

“The PHI North residency absolutely inspired a new frame of work for how I express my art. I truly believe that the environment has a huge influence on your behaviour and mental health so being surrounded by nature all while creating and having access to a state of the art studio space helped push the momentum of my work to newer heights. It's a one of a kind experience.”

– Lunice, PHI North 2021-2022

“The residency allowed me to use rest in my art.”

– Gayance, PHI North 2021-2022

“Participating in the PHI Nord residency gave us such an amazing opportunity to work, play, bond, and create in a beautiful setting. A little escape from the busy world, this residency was the exact time and space needed to work on my next album. The nature, rec facilities, living spaces, and recording studio were all excellent and beyond our expectations! Highly recommended for any artist at any stage in their creative process.”

– Eve Parker Finley, PHI North 2021-2022

Program details

Selected artists will receive:

Support for project development and accommodation: Two-week stay in a guest house with exclusive access to a recording studio.
Stipend: A $1,600 stipend is provided.
Recording studio support: Sound engineer support for up to 8 hours per day during the residency.
Video profile production: Creation of a live video performance to be broadcast across PHI networks (social media, website, etc.).
Network access: Leveraging PHI's extensive network of collaborators.

Eligibility requirements:

Be a Canadian-based musician.
Have a specific musical project and the desire to carry it out as part of the residency.
Maintain a professional musical practice in Québec or Canada or demonstrate potential for career development in music.
Have previously released or published music that is accessible on public platforms.

Bands with up to four members are eligible. The conditions offered remain the same as solo artists.

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Frequently asked questions

The selection process will be conducted by a committee comprising PHI staff and invited professionals representing diverse expertise, perspectives, and lived experiences.

The clarity, rigour, vision and scope of the proposed project (25%);
The quality of the musical composition: music and the lyrics (25%);
The importance and need of the proposed project in the current era (25%) ;
The motivation, personality and originality in the application (25%).

Transport costs are not covered as part of the residency.

Artists are expected to use the space and opportunity to their full potential. No final production is required.

There are four planned sessions for PHI Nord 2024-25, and each session will accommodate one selected project.

Bands of up to four individuals are eligible for this residency.

The residency lasts up to 15 days, including a day dedicated to filming with the PHI VDO Team.

There is no application fee.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to bring a pet on the residency site.

Applicants may voluntarily add their date of births into the Voluntary Self-Declaration section of the application. This is not required, but helps us assess the diverse age range of the artists applying for the residency.

Any other questions?

Contact us!

[email protected] [email protected] → →

Partners

An initiative by PHI made possible thanks to the support of SiriusXM Franco.

PHI is a cultural infrastructure dedicated to supporting contemporary art and artists probing the key agenda of our times, and facilitating access between them and the public. Composed of three entities — PHI Studio, PHI Foundation, and PHI Centre — PHI is guided by values that include generosity, rigour, the importance of community, and devotes itself to the innovation and evolution of cultural experiences that both challenge and delight.

To reiterate its commitment to supporting local artistic communities, and to help shape the art of tomorrow, PHI offers three artistic residency programs annually: North, Montréal and Immersive. Although each residency meets different artists’ needs, our common mission is to provide our artists in residence with the tools, support, and impetus they need to expand the scope of their practice and take it to the next level.