Juno Master Class

The Allan Slaight JUNO Master Class is a Canadian music industry mentorship programme run by CARAS (Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) in partnership with Slaight Music and Canada’s Music Incubator. Each year, three emerging Canadian recording artists are selected for a week-long intensive — including direct mentorship from JUNO Award-winning artists, producers, and senior industry professionals. Over its ten-year run the programme mentored 37 artists, five of whom went on to win JUNO Awards.

Challenge

The programme needed a platform serving two distinct audiences: emerging artists submitting applications, and the broader Canadian music community seeking programme information and alumni news. The site also needed to integrate with external systems for application processing while communicating the credibility of a JUNO-affiliated initiative.

What We Built

We built the Juno Master Class website on Drupal, providing a well-structured platform that matched the prestige of the CARAS and Slaight Music brands.

Application portal — a structured submission workflow allowing emerging artists to apply directly through the site, with form validation and data routing to programme administrators for each annual intake.

API development and integration — connections to third-party systems supporting the application review process and content syndication with partner organisations including CARAS and Canada’s Music Incubator.

Content architecture — custom content types for alumni profiles, mentor bios, programme history, and annual cohort announcements; the CARAS editorial team could manage all content independently without developer support.

Responsive design — a mobile-optimised layout suited to working musicians who access content primarily from their phones.

QA — end-to-end testing of the application flow and editorial workflows ahead of each annual submissions window opening.

Result

The Juno Master Class site gave the programme a platform as polished as the mentorship it represented. The editorial team managed applications, updated alumni profiles, and published cohort announcements without developer involvement — keeping the focus on the artists, not the technology.