Arts and entrepreneurship programs inspire new company

Incubated from the 2014 Creative Economy conference, three Cape Breton boys teamed up and recently incorporated their own business, Buds Entertainment. One of the main goals of the conference was to foster continued communication and collaboration amongst arts organizations, artists, and the business community. The formation of Buds Entertainment would not have been possible without the collaborations of Gavin Sheppard, Co-Founder of The Remix Project, the Youth Art Connection, the Artpreneur 2.0 program, The Beat Academy Lab Science program, and The City Natives, an award winning hip-hop group collectively from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Buds Entertainment provides a platform for youth to pursue and develop their career interest through a practical, socially driven entrepreneurial process. Buds Entertainment originated through the long standing friendship between Mitchell Bailey, Mitch Turner of Glace Bay and Brendan Lyle of Sydney Mines. Collectively, they were known as the Bud Squad and worked together throughout high school to produce hip-hop music, videos and the associated graphic design. Bud Squad represents a team of friends working effectively together and feeding off each other’s talent in a combined effort to reach their goals and dreams.

Mitchell Bailey, 17, owner of Buds Entertainment began his hip-hop career at the age of 15 when he released his first mixtape. Bailey has performed at various shows including opening up for Bone Thugs N Harmony and at a number of festivals and events throughout Nova Scotia. He is now preparing to release his fourth album Young Superstars which includes features from a selection of established Nova Scotian rappers.

Mitch Turner 17, owner of OutsiDesign, focuses on graphic design artwork for emerging and industry artists, and gamers. He has recently designed the album artwork for City Natives, Mitchell Bailey and Kam Speech. Turner is currently expanding his reach and growing a strong social media presence. He has designed all the multimedia for Buds Entertainment, 902 Hip-Hop, and other small businesses.

Brendan Lyle, 16, owner of Moose Media, focuses on music videos for emerging and industry artists. This year he made Hip-Hop Canada’s Top 10 list for directing Universal Soul’s, All Out (The Anthem Remix) and will be traveling to LA over the summer to work with Tyler Ross, founder, director and editor of Our Dynasty Our Destiny (ODOD).

The boys are now finishing high school and will be attending the Nova Scotia Community College in September while they continue to grow and expand their businesses. Buds Entertainment is currently focused on developing their relationships with other youth and socially driven organizations in Cape Breton and Nova Scotia. This includes the Youth for Change program at the New Dawn Centre for Social Innovation in Sydney.

Buds Entertainment will be hosting the official release party of Mitchell Bailey’s Young Superstars on June 12 at the Undercurrent in Glace Bay. This will be an all ages event, encouraging all youth to come out and be part of the Young Superstars movement.