Meatless Music 4 Mondays is the first project from Vigour Projects whose mission is to improve the health of communities through music. The purpose of Meatless Music 4 Mondays is to use music as a tool to promote the health benefits of the international meat free Mondays movement. The Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario is our charity parent for this project. Our first "call to action" is a song contest for independent musicians. We are looking for the best original song with "heart-healthy" messaging. Details of the contest are posted on our website. The song can be any genre. Whether it is funny, serious, or heartfelt, the only rule is that you must be creative! Note that it does not have to be radio quality. Each song submission costs $5, which will be donated to the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario. We will be announcing the winner of our contest publicly on Monday, August 9th, 2010. The winner will receive a pair of great tickets to one of Paul McCartney' s upcoming concerts in Toronto (August 8th or 9th), free recording studio time (at Number 9 Audio), and great exposure. The song will become the anthem for the "Meatless Music 4 Mondays" cause.

The Arts and Cultural scene in York Region is getting a great boost from a new region-wide grant program announced by the York Region Arts Council (YRAC).
Individual artists of all abilities (students, emerging, established) and disciplines (music – all genres, dance, theater, visual, literary, media, etc.) as well as nonprofit arts and culture community groups have until August 16, 4 p.m. to apply for a one-time grant from YRAC.  Artists and nonprofits can apply for a Marketing Grant while artists pursuing a higher education in the Arts can also apply for an Education Grant (towards tuition fees and textbooks). Successful applicants can receive a grant of up to $10,000.

Grant application forms and guidelines can be downloaded from www.YorkScene.com.  The  Arts Grant program was made possible by the funds raised at the October 2009 Chairman Dinner for the Arts, supported by York Region Chairman & CEO Bill Fisch and produced in partnership with the York Region Media Group.