News Article

College grad’s music career beginning to soar


5/5/2010 11:47:32 AM


Karla Pilgrim is making a name for herself in the Canadian music scene. The College of the North Atlantic graduate was recently a part of the Ruckus on the Edge/Juno week celebrations, performing at several events, including JunoFest. She was originally slated to share the same stage as Canadian country star Terri Clark, however adverse weather conditions kept Clark from arriving in St. John’s for the performance. Photo by Adam Diamond

By Devin Lee

Karla Pilgrim is a shining example of the potential success a College of the North Atlantic graduate can find in the real world. The pride of Roddickton on the province’s northern peninsula, Karla completed the college’s Music Industry and Performance (MIP) program in 2002 and has seen her career soar ever since.

"The program in Stephenville, with the gift that I have to be able to sing and play, armed me with the business skills to be able to go out and know what I need to know," said Pilgrim about her time spent as a student at CNA.

An artist can be amazingly gifted, but without the ability to know how to promote their work, or how to recognize when they’re being taken advantage of, they can find it difficult to prosper in the music industry.

Pilgrim believes this is one of the most important aspects of being successful as a performer. She says it was the MIP program that equipped her with the tools needed to deal with that particular aspect.

"It worked for me, there''s a reason why I''m in the situation that I''m in right now."

The situation that Karla speaks of is a career path leading to her becoming one of the province’s better known performers. Fresh off winning two MusicNL awards and being nominated for an East Coast Music Award, Pilgrim now has a weekly gig playing at Bridie Molloys on George Street in St. John’s and will be performing at numerous other shows and festivals this year, including the Norris Point Tails and Tunes festival on May 21-22.

Pilgrim was also recently approached by the organizers of Ruckus On The Edge, the week of musical events leading up to this year’s Junos Awards, to perform as part of Ruckus in the Round: Songs from the Edge, an intimate songwriter’s circle format. She played the show alongside well known artists: Terry Penny, Harry Martin, and Mike MacDonald. The event also showcased Corner Brook resident Sherman Downey, Maureen Ennis, Juno nominated Amelia Curran, and the legendary Ron Hynes.

And whether or not these other musicians have ever received any formal musical education, all of them understand they need to run their careers like you would any successful venture.

"If you want to be a performing artist you need to learn how to run yourself as a business. It''s always a learning process because the industry changes so much all the time. There''s always something new happening when it comes to publicity and certain ways to package yourself. But you have to stay on top of everything. It''s a lot of work, but if you want to know how to do it and the proper ways to do it, the college’s Music Industry and Performance program is number one."



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Media Contact:

Roger Hulan
Communications Specialist
College of the North Atlantic
(709) 643-7938
roger.hulan@cna.nl.ca