Jonny Harris, ECMA Host of Gala Awards April 9/15

The East Coast Music Association (ECMA) is thrilled to return to St. John's April 8-12, 2015 for Eastlink East Coast Music Week (ECMW). ECMW was last in Newfoundland and Labrador for the 2009 event in Corner Brook and the association is thrilled to return to St. John's for the first time in 10 years. ECMA has received $250,000 in funding from the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the city of St. John's has committed $100,000 in funding for ECMW 2015.

The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is proud to support East Coast Music Week and its International Export Buyers Program, which promotes talented Atlantic Canadian artists abroad. Newfoundland and Labrador's internationally-renowned musicians and performers are both talented and unique, but they are also small businesses that make a valuable contribution to the province's economy. Through this opportunity, representatives from the local industry are able to promote their product to a broader national and international market and I am confident that this financial contribution will allow the region's musicians to showcase their talents, while they also gain knowledge and skills in the area of exports, said the Honourable Paul Davis, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador.

2015 marks a shift in scheduling for ECMW, with the East Coast Music Awards Gala kicking off the week on Thursday, April 9.

Newfoundland and Labrador actor, writer and comedian Jonny Harris will host the 2015 East Coast Music Awards Gala on Thursday, April 9 at the Jack Byrne Arena in Torbay, NL. Harris is best known for his roles in the television series Murdoch Mysteries and Hatching, Matching and Dispatching, as well as the films Young Triffie, Moving Day and Grown Up Movie Star. His new travel comedy show on CBC, Of All Places, premieres in February 2015. He has performed as a comedian at the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, Just for Laughs Festival and the Halifax Comedy Festival, the CBC Radio series The Debaters and Match Game on the Comedy Network.

Early bird Gala tickets – including tickets for ECMA's first ever Gala Fan Pit – and early bird wristbands, festival passes and VIP passes will be on sale on Monday, November 24 at noon. Very limited quantities of early bird gala tickets are on sale for $40. Fans can rock out in the Gala fan pit for $35. Until January 19, 2015, early bird wristbands are $75, early bird festival passes are $160 and early bird VIP passes are $300.

The Gala will 0nce again be broadcast in HD on Eastlink nationwide, on their TV anywhere platform Eastlink To Go and OnDemand.