CREDIT: FCLMA FACEBOOK
Fanshawe Student Union (FSU) alumnus, John b. Young, will receive the a Lifetime Achievement Award during this year's Forest City London Music Awards (FCLMA).

The Junos may have come to a close, but London is just getting started celebrating the city’s music industry with the Forest City London Music Awards (FCLMA).

The FCLMA is non-profit awards ceremony that recognizes the history of the London music scene and aims to encourage the next generation of artists.

In addition to the awards, it offers to current artists, every year the FCLMA presents several Lifetime Achievement Awards to those who have made large contributions and had a lasting impact on the London music scene for a number of years.

This year Fanshawe is proud to see former Fanshawe Student Union (FSU) entertainment programmer and operations manager, John b. Young, receive the award for his work fostering local talent in both Fanshawe and the London community.

Young dedicated his life to making sure London had a strong arts culture. He got his start among the first graduating class of Fanshawe’s historic Music Industry Arts (MIA) program in 1976 and upon graduating, found work in London as an entertainment agent.

It wasn’t long until Young returned to Fanshawe in 1981 to work for the FSU as the entertainment coordinator. With the original Forwell Hall having just been built, Young worked tirelessly for the next 34 years, bringing music and entertainment for the students of Fanshawe to enjoy.

Right from the start Young was an advocate for the arts and played a major role in creating the funding from the school for all the events that students enjoy to this day. “I said ‘look we spend $50,000 on athletes and that includes at that point 42 athletes. Why don’t we spend at least half that, $20,000, for at that point 4,000 students?’ They got the message and started to support bringing in entertainers for free for the students,” he said.

Another major landmark of Young’s time at Fanshawe is The Out Back Shack, with Young playing a principal role in its conceptualization and construction. “The Shack is one of my babies...it was the first licensed facility to open by a student government in a college campus,” Young said.

“I got to start a lot of different programs that still exist today and entertain the students,” Young said, quickly and humbly passed along credit to his colleagues. “My success is only due to the support I got from the student leaders, especially my VPs of entertainment over the years and [the] student presidents.”

In addition to his worked at Fanshawe, Young has continued to work in the London area creating opportunities to grow and encourage young artists of all disciplines. His recognition through the FCLMA Lifetime Achievement Award is well deserved as Young played a key role in its development, serving as the chair of FCLMA for five years.

“I’ve always been involved with the organization and supported it, especially in trying to get youth involvement and showcasing young London musicians,” Young said. “We tried to build a reputation of supporting the arts and specifically the musical arts in London, by rewarding people and recognizing them.”

One of the biggest initiatives in this regards is the London Youth Award, which has brought high school aged bands into the limelight to compete for about 12 years. “The great reward is watching young people perform and get recognition for the work they’ve done to be a great act,” Young said.

While speaking of the next generation of musicians, Young shared his thoughts on the current state of the industry and what can be done moving forward to keep encouraging growth in the arts.

“In this political time...Unfortunately at the provincial level and at the educational level because of the cutbacks music is often the thing that’s cutback. Music and the arts are always hit first and it’s important,” Young said. “I applaud that the local government is supporting the local music industry [and] I hope that they expand that to all the arts,” he said.

Young continued, supporting the Juno awards but also expressing concern in how this high profile event may take away from opportunities for growth on a local level.

“My frustration [is that] we spent $600,000 on the Junos. That’s a great thing, but what did that bring to the local community?...I was at one of the very first JUNO meetings ever held. So I know how important it is to the national scene, but it cost the City a lot of money to put that on,” Young said. “Yeah it helps the tourism dollars and everything else, but also if you support local it will help the dollars and...I think it’s more important the [work] that we do that supports local talent at that grassroots level.”

London is certainly lucky to have someone as passionate as Young advocating for the arts in London. Despite all the recognition and praise he’s received through the Lifetime Achievement Award, Young shows no signs of slowing down. He continues to dedicate his time and energy fighting to grow the arts community in London.

Those interested in learning more about the Forest City London Music Awards can head to FCLMA.ca.