New interim MusicNL CEO wants province to become a musical travel destination

The new interim CEO of MusicNL has gone from shipbuilding to building up Newfoundland and Labrador's music industry.

Leonard Pecore says the talent coming out of the province is some of the best in the globe, and he wants the world to know.

Pecore is the founder and corporate director of Genoa Design International, a Newfoundland and Labrador-based company that provides 3D modelling and design services to shipbuilding industries. He founded the company in 1995, and stepped away from its daily operations in 2022.

He spoke with Weekend AM host Heather Barrett about how founding a production design company led him to his current role with the province's music industry association and how he's using his longtime love of music to help propel the Newfoundland and Labrador arts scene forward.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Why did you want to take on the job as interim CEO of MusicNL?

A: Probably since 2020, I've been slowly stepping away from operations at Genoa. And then really this year I just found myself, even though I sat on a number of different boards, I just found myselfrealizing I have more to do, more to give, and it was important what I did, what I gave to. So this opportunity just popped out of nowhere, really. And I felt like the universe just provided me the opportunity to jump in, so I did.

Before we get into what you're doing now with MusicNL, I'd like to remind our listeners a bit about Genoa Design and the company that you built here. Can you tell us a bit about Genoa?

Genoa does ship design and builds ships on computer in 3D, every little piece, every little part. And then provides that information to a ship builder to construct the vessel.

And of course, the people that work in that field are very technical people.

Oh yes.

Which sounds to, you know, the layperson, quite the opposite of the people who would be working with MusicNL?

Yes, and no. So there are interesting parallels and differences. Obviously the difference being what we label technical and what we label artistic, but really you build up skills and then you apply those skills and grow. There is an element of creativity in the technical skills that the people at Genoa Design use every day. And there's also a strong element of technical skill that's involved in any artist who wants to create. There are organizations that celebrate and foster that connection, Business and Arts Newfoundland Labrador. So there are parallels, there's differences.

WATCH | Leonard Pecore on his ambitions for N.L.'s vibrant music scene:

From ships to sheet music: This business leader is taking on a new challenge

9 months ago

Duration 3:35

Leonard Pecore founded Genoa Designs, an international company that develops working drawings and 3D models of ships. Now hes shifting gears as the interim CEO at MusicNL. He speaks with Heather Barrett, host of CBC Radios Weekend AM, about the similarities and differences.

Now how well do you know local music, are you a fan?

Well, yes, and I was just listening to a favourite artist from Newfoundland and Labrador here, Nico Paulo, on the way here, which zenned me out for this interview, which is awesome. The last couple of years I've been on the MusicNL board of directors, and I've really just taken the opportunity to go to everything I possibly can. Most notably, Music Celebration Week and ECMAs. I've attended those, really just been blown away by the amount and quality of talent here in Newfoundland and Labrador, and Atlantic Canada, but especially Newfoundland and Labrador.

I believe we are a world destination for music. When you think of New Orleans or Memphis or Liverpool or Havana as places you'd go to listen to music, Ireland. I also think Newfoundland and Labrador is on that list, and it's high up there. It's just a matter of us giving it that extra little oomph to get it there.

I don't know everybody, I've found myself in some fun situations when I, as a 60-year-old, am sitting and listening to the Order of the Precious Blood on bust in my ears, and I'm having a blast. And it's, I'm totally surprising myself and it's totally unexpected how much fun I'm having and how much I'm enjoying that experience. Or Reggie Morales. Typically, I do not listen to hip-hop or rap in my vehicle or at home, but I'm sitting there listening to him and I'm just captivated.

I can see it in your eyes. It's like it's opening up another world for you in a way.

Yeah. So I've always, I mean, like many of us, music has been a really important part of my life since the very beginning, since I was very young. Grew up listening to artists like Louis Armstrong, and a lot of big band music, that's [what] my parents were into, and they were from Montreal. And I grew up in Nova Scotia listening to a lot of their music, but then branched out into rock and blues and then through university and some courses, really getting a cross-cultural exposure to music from around the world and global music. So it's always played a very important part.

Listen | Weekend AM's Heather Barrett speaks with Leonard Pecore about his plans to take N.L.'s music scene global:

Weekend AM13:20Leonard Pecore wants Newfoundland and Labrador to be a musical travel destination

Leonard Pecore, the new interim CEO of MusicNL, talks about his hopes for the province's music industry.

NowI want to get back to something you were saying about really giving Newfoundland and Labrador's music industry that little bit of extra oomph. Where would you like to see the province's music industry going?

I'm a week into this, and I have, in our little office, we have large flip chart pages stuck up all over the walls full of questions. Questions that I have, and questions that the staff have, questions we need to ask ourselves, questions we need to work with the board, questions that we need to work with the members on. Questions for government. I have far more questions than any answers right now. But I do know a couple of things and I know what I've been listening to for the last couple of years since I've joined the board.

Like what?

The music. The incredible, incomparable music that is happening in this province.

Gotta ask you about funding, because funding is always an issue in the arts.

Yup.

What do you think of the amount of resources that MusicNL has to do everything that you'd like to see be done?

So, it's my first glance at this five days in. It's tough. Membership has more than doubled in the last year and a half, two years. So we've topped a thousand members at MusicNL. But the level of funding remains the same. The work that the staff does to evaluate and try to distribute that funding, that work has doubled. So their jobs have doubled, along with the memberships, because twice as many requests come in, but the same level goes out. So I think there's room, and there will be, I believe there's going to be opportunity to discuss this. And it needs to be creative, just like the artists we're serving.

Do we need more?

Oh my gosh, yes. Yeah. More than double.

If you could dream, if you had a vision for where you see the Newfoundland and Labrador music industry going, where would you like to see it in another five or 10 years?

So almost a year and a half ago, the board got together for a couple of days and we dreamed like that. And we asked ourselves questions like that, and we came up with a vision: music cultivated at home, but celebrated everywhere.

That ties into that world destination for music. I can't put a qualifying statement to it to say specifically, this is what I picture. But I picture the world saying to itself, "If I want to go somewhere this summer to hear some really awesome music, where am I gonna go? Hmm. Let's see. There's Ireland, there's New Orleans, and there's Newfoundland. Haven't been there. Let's take a look at some of the tourism ads. Let's listen to some of the artists sold, going."

So I want people to come here and I can see the artists, and it's already happening. It is already happening where delegates from around the world come here during Music Celebration Week and during events and look for our artists to take to other parts of the world to expose other parts of the world to music from Newfoundland and Labrador. That's probably the best I could define it right now.

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