Feldman Agency Promotes Tom Kemp, Joel Baskin To Leadership Roles; Two Others Promoted

– The Feldman Agency

Toronto-based The Feldman Agency announced a string of promotions and hirings May 6, including the promotion of Tom Kemp to senior vice president and Joel Baskin to vice president.

Kemp is one of TFA’s most senior agents, along with Vinny Cinquemani, the agency said in a release.

Baskin will maintain his current artist representation and talent buying responsibilities along with more internal duties at the agency.

“I am honoured to work with an amazing team as well as an esteemed stable of artists, managers and partners at TFA,” said Baskin. “I look forward to working with the team to implement new strategies and ways to grow and maximize our clients live touring business for continued success.”

Kemp is part of the talent agency’s new ownership, along with TFA president Jeff Craib, Pollstar learned in February.

Growth seems to be the name of the game now, as Craib told Pollstar not only does TFA want to consolidate it’s strength in Canada, where it has roughly 30 employees working out of its Toronto office and six more full-timers in Western Canada, but the company is signing more clients and bolstering its sponsorship and partnerships division.

TFA hired Adam Kreeft in October and Steven Himmelfarb in June, who brought a number of internationally touring artists and who have since signed acts like Last Dinosaurs and Rupi Kaur. Himmelfarb is also the agent for PUP, which was the subject of a recent Hotstar feature.

Other new hires announced May 6 include Chris Lombos as the financial team’s controller; Morgan Claringbold as sales coordinator for the entertainment partnerships division; M’kaylah Fridal as general administration coordinator; and Izzy Martin as general administration & systems coordinator.

Claringbold will work on sponsorships, including the expansion of TFA’s work with the Canadian Country Music Awards, joining Nick Hodge and Phil Bouffard. Martin and Fridal will add to the company’s administrative and operational efficiency as the agency continues to grow.

Additional promotions announced May 6 include Olivia Ootes as VP of operations and Adam Schnitzer to full fledged agent.

Craib said he was pleased that the promotions were going to people who have been with the company for a long time and that TFA had largely been able to avoid “negative” turnover.

“Olivia has been with us for more than 20 years. Tom has been working with us for more than 20 years. Joel, who was just named VP, I’ve worked with him for close to 10 years.

“It’s been great to see that people are growing and they are staying, they’re taking on more responsibility in a company that’s getting bigger.”

Craib spoke to Pollstar in the midst of Canadian Music Week in Toronto and said he was pleased to see that the city has grown into a major destination for live music in recent years.

“You can feel it in the city and you can see it in the numbers,” he said. “I can notice a difference in the traffic.”

Not only are the big venues like Scotiabank Arena and Budweiser Stage bringing in top talent, but Craib said the smaller rooms like Danforth Music Hall,