,
Executive & Artistic Director, RBC Ottawa Bluesfest & CityFolk
Mark Monahan is the Executive and Artistic Director of RBC Ottawa Bluesfest, CityFolk and the Festival of Small Halls. In addition to overseeing three of the largest festivals in Ontario, Mark has recently coordinated the creation of Festival House, a historic church transformed into a modern, open-concept central artistic hub for many of Ottawa's smaller festivals to grow and thrive. In partnership with a local community center, Mark established the Bluesfest School of Music and Art (BSOMA), a creative education space offering music and art classes to people of all ages and abilities.
Mark is President of the Ottawa Music Industry Coalition (OMIC), a not-for-profit group advocating on behalf of Ottawa's music industry, Co-founder of the Ottawa Festivals Network, representing over 100 festivals in the Ottawa region and
Co-founder and current Chair of the Major International Festivals and Events Network (MIFEN), a collection of the twelve largest festivals in the province of Ontario.
Mark was awarded Ottawa Tourism's Person of the Year Award in 2013.