Years of experience in just about every aspect of the business have made
Kirby a highly respected name in western Canada's entertainment industry.
Kirby has done it all as a manager, sound engineer, publicist, agent, music journalist and talent buyer. Her talents have earned numerous awards and respect that goes far beyond her hometown of Edmonton.
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For the past 9 years Kirby has owned and operated Ramparts Entertainment, which provides a wide range of services including management, booking, publicity, promotions, consulting, instruction, as well as preparing grant applications, proposals, marketing plans, business plans and bios. |
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After less than a year in business the Alberta Recording Industry Association nominated her for two awards. When Kirby booked some of Edmonton's major music local venues including The Sidetrack Café, she won both the ARIA Awards for Promoter/Talent Buyer and the Prairie Music Awards for Talent Buyer/Booking Agent of the year.
Prairie Music Alliance hired Kirby for its 2001 festival coordinator in Edmonton, she regularly works for Canada Country Music Association when the CCMAs are in Edmonton, and she was the co-producer of JUNOFest when The Junos were in Edmonton in 2004.
Currently Ramparts’ main focus is Latin supergroup ¡Bomba!, who have released two albums, a video and have toured extensively across Canada to perform at major jazz and folk festivals.
Kirby is a co-founder of the EMF (Edmonton Manager's Forum), an independent version of The International Managers Forum that acts as a networking and information sharing co-operative.
Kirby's been a juror for many arts associations and has spoken on many conference panels such as Indie Weekends, Prairie Music Week, Vancouver's New Music West and Music Alberta. She also instructs in "This Business of Music" at Grant MacEwan College.
Her first experiences in the music business were road managing and live
sound engineering. Kirby is considered as one of the best live sound engineers
in Alberta, and she continues to mix on a freelance basis, particularly
at Festival Place Theatre in Sherwood Park. Her services are regularly
sought by artists such as Corb Lund and the Co-Dependents.
| Kirby was the Edmonton columnist for Music Express Magazine (a Toronto publication) for years and she then went on to write features for Vue Weekly. After years of doing a rock column, cover stories, and CD reviews for Culture Shock magazine, Kirby moved over to Edmonton's See Magazine for nearly six years, where she had a weekly "Sounding Off" column. She now freelances, and has written for many other publications such as Real Estate Weekly, Our Voice, Cameo, Alberta Views, the Edmonton Sun website and Muse Alberta. |  |
