HXOUSE - A Door to Toronto's Global Creative Network.

Thanks to artists like Drake and The Weeknd that’s been dominating music charts all over the world this past decade, Toronto’s been in the spotlight more often than not lately. Even more recently now with The Weeknd’s hit album After Hours release this past March. The talent coming out of the Canadian city has opened the door and created opportunities for more musicians to be heard as well as more artists/creatives from various disciplines to be discovered. This has also inspired other people in the creative industry to create platforms to showcase art and artists in the city. One such platform is HXOUSE.

HXOUSE, founded La Mar Taylor, the Weeknd’s creative director, and Ahmed Ishmail, marketing guru, was created in collaboration with XO Records and in partnership with Microsoft Canada to support local creative entrepreneurs. HXOUSE welcomes creatives from all disciplines, including musicians, singers, writers, designers, fashion designers, and photographers to name a few. The founders describe HXOUSE as a “Toronto centered but globally focused incubator and accelerator for all types of creatives.

HXOUSE connects leaders of industry to students, creating connections that normally wouldn’t have happened otherwise. One way HXOUSE creates these connections within the Toronto creative community is by hosting “IN-HXOUSE”, conversations with industry leaders like Errolson Hugh, Swiss Beats, Boi-1da, Kid Studio and other creatives who are dominating their space. Most recently, the founders did their own IN-HXOUSE conversation this past February, where they talked about the inception of this project and their goal to make it part of their legacy to give back to the city of Toronto. Throughout this talk, both Lamar and Ahmed shared their story, and where they saw this opportunity to join forces and create this space. There were a lot of insightful quotes that reflected their ethos as creatives. 

HXOUSE acts as the “door” for the creatives to go through and an opening for new opportunities. Both La Mar and Ahmed’s mission is for HXOUSE to plant 1000 seeds in the creative industry to cement their legacy as trailblazers and support the next generation of creatives the way they wished they could have been supported when coming up. 

Even in a time with this crazy pandemic, HXOUSE is offering funded support called TOARTIST COVID RESPONSE FUND to those creatives that are losing income because of this global outbreak. HXOUSE is not only an incubator and accelerator of creatives and technology but a community that supports each other and is invested in the next generation of Toronto.

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Jason Jay

Founder & Creative Director | CONTENDER Studio
www.contender.studio
info@contender.studio
905.699.5260