Sector Leads and Advisory Committees  /   Robyn Stewart

Robyn Stewart

Executive Director,
Women in Music Canada

Winnipeg-based Robyn Stewart has been executive director of Women In Music Canada since 2022, after more than eight years in the same position at Breakout West and Western Canadian Music Alliance. A frequent panelist and keynote speaker, the 22-year music industry veteran can discuss a range of topics important to women, such as advancement, pay equity, mentorship, #MeToo, research findings and work-life balance. She is also an expert in fund development, board governance, and has worked with all levels of government.

At the helm of this national non-profit organization, focused on strengthening the social economic balance of the music industry, Robyn has launched the Women in Music Canada Honours Awards, the two-day Summit, Mentorship Program, Leadership Accelerator, and Entrepreneur Accelerator. She has also spearheaded various export programming opportunities, starting in 2016 with Tallinn Music Week in Estonia which she continued in 2023 with WIMC; she also launched a trade mission to Sweden in 2022.

With diversity, equity and inclusion at the forefront of planning and engagement with the music community, Robyn has orchestrated campaigns to improve representation and work opportunities for underserved communities. Two important endeavours are WIMC’s partnership on groundbreaking research studies, 2024’s Share The Air, looking at gender representation in Canadian radio from 2013-2023, and a study currently underway with Music Publishers Canada, looking at caregiving (of a child, elderly or chronically ill) in the workplace.

Robyn, a mother of two, also sits on the Parenthood Committee for London, UK-based global ally community She Said So, and with WIMC is the music partner for Balancing Act’s 2024-2026 micro-grant and caregiver advocacy project Level-Up.

Having started her career as a theatre stage manager, among other roles in the cultural industries, Robyn maintains her passion for the arts and the role they play in communities. Her experience covers all areas of event management and talent buying, with a forte in financial management, complex logistics, government relations and fund development, and building partnerships. She was proudly involved in the Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games 2010, for which she ran talent buying and logistics for 12 stages, and again in 2015 PanAmerican Games, as entertainment buyer.

Robyn holds various board positions, vice-chair of Polaris Music Prize; member of Young Music Professionals; and chair of the Heart and Stroke Foundation Advisory Board of Manitoba.