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This month, Montreal hosts the International Artist Managers’ Association conference (IAMA), organized in collaboration with CINARS (Conférence internationale des arts de la scène) and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Close to 300 delegates from across Canada, the US, Europe, and Asia, will gather to attend sessions addressing changes in the music business – such as the impact of globalization and new technologies – to hear showcases by Canadian artists and composers, and to visit the city’s top venues. Chaired by Barbara Scales of Arts Management Company Latitude 45, IAMA Montreal represents the first time that the annual conference is being convened outside of Europe.

There were few surprises on October 22, when L’Association québécoise de l’industrie du disque (ADISQ) handed out its annual “Félix” Awards at Place des Arts in Montreal, with prizes going to three of Quebec’s best-known classical artists. Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà won Album of the Year – orchestra or large ensemble for their Musique de jeux vidéo; and pianist Alain Lefèvre took Album of the Year – soloist and small ensemble for his Dompierre Préludes, premiered at last year’s Lanaudière Festival – both on the Analekta label. Declared Album of the Year – classical vocal was Karina Gauvin’s critically acclaimed Prima Donna, featuring bravura arias by Handel, with Arion Baroque Orchestra and Alexander Weimann. The ATMA Classique release also received the Juno Award in a similar category this year.

The 35th annual National Business for the Arts Partnership Awards Gala takes place on November 15 at Toronto special events venue The Carlu. Gary Slaight, a supporter of numerous initiatives including the Slaight Family Music Program at Soulpepper and the Slaight Family Academy at the Shaw Festival, which provides training programs for actors and a drama course for grade school students, is the winner of the 2013 Edmund C. Bovey Award. Stephen Delaney, who donates copious volunteer hours to organizations like the Art Gallery of Ontario and CreatiVenture Collective, a grassroots organization which assists dance organizations, is this year’s winner of the Arnold Edinborough Award.

Nominations are open until December 1 for the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prizes. Two prizes of $50,000 each are awarded annually to distinguished Canadians, one in the arts and the other in the social sciences and humanities. Previous winners of the arts award include choreographer Édouard Lock, conductor Alex Pauk, and conductor and violinist Jeanne Lamon. For nomination guidelines, see: www.canadacouncil.ca

The Royal Conservatory of Music will create The Marilyn Thomson Early Childhood Education Centre, following a 5-million-dollar donation. The new centre will develop early childhood education programs and digital early childhood education products for use by parents and their children, as well as offer teacher certification.

The 2013 Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation for Young Canadian Opera Singers award winners are: sopranos Mireille Asselin, France Bellemare, Tracy Cantin, Layla Claire, Samantha Louis-Jean, Cecile Muhire, and Florie Valiquette; mezzo Aidan Ferguson; tenors Adrian Kramer, Jean-Michel Richer, and Aaron Sheppard; and baritone Geoffrey Sirett.