About

Canada has been called unworkable as a country, it has been said that a geographically impossible country. With a population roughly the size of California and a land mass larger than the U.S. or China Canada is divided by vast empty spaces, by immense mountain ranges, by harsh winters and of course by language. Add to all of that the fact that most major Canadian population centers are closer to the US than they are to the next major Canadian population center and there are very few things that unite Canada.

Much to the chagrin of Stephen Harper much of what ties Canada together is cultural. NxEW was created as a music site in March of 2009 in order to bring together Canada's music community to share ideas, experiences and most importantly the music that is going on around them. Since that time we have had more than 3,700 posts from 250 contributors in 45 Canadian cities.

Now, as of September, 2011 we are throwing the doors open even wider. We plan to keep all of our music content but, at the same time, open things up to the wider Canadian arts and culture community. As we move forward posts will begin to appear on Canadian film, literature, visual art, dance, television, radio, new media and more. This will include work by Canadian artists at home and those who are working abroad.

In order to encourage participation and bring in the widest possible variety of contributors we have thrown out most of the rules that traditional media likes, our contributors write about what they want when they want, we've tossed the rules on conflict of interest, we have no 'style guide' (we value have nothing against skill at writing but we value enthusiasm more), we have no 'standards and practices' we are not and do not claim to be impartial. We are not competitive or territorial, we happily work with and cheer on other groups, organizations and individuals that work for the benefit of Canadian arts and culture.