East Coast Music Association welcomes new CEO
CTV
The East Coast Music Association will be entering a new era on March 1 under the leadership of a different CEO.
The East Coast Music Association will be entering a new era on March 1 under the leadership of a different CEO.
Blanche Israël is a cultural strategist and professional musician who has French-Canadian and Moroccan roots.
Israël is stepping up as Chief Executive Officer after Andy MacLean departed in 2023. MacLean was the CEO for nine years.
She says having a bilingual person in the role of CEO helps bring representation to the French parts of Atlantic Canada.
“We have a province in the Atlantic region that is our only bilingual province in Canada, which is New Brunswick, and I think it’s important, not only important, but crucial, essential to properly represent,” says Israël in an interview with CTV News on Friday.
“It’s not just in New Brunswick. There are communities that float across all of the provinces that are not bound by that particular province’s borders and the Acadian communities all over the East Coast.”
Israël is a professional cellist who has toured in eight countries and between 50 to 60 places around Canada from 2018 to 2020. Much of that was on the East Coast, as she works closely with New Brunswick artist Jeremy Dutcher.
