By Tabassum Siddiqui
Within the music industry, the acronym CARAS needs no explanation, given the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences’ key role in advancing Canadian music and artists through the Annual JUNO Awards; the music education charity MusiCounts; the Canadian Music Hall of Fame; and artist-development programs.
As Director of Academy Operations, Liz Morgante plays a critical role in CARAS’ national award strategy – supporting the organization’s mandate of celebrating, recognizing, and remembering the artists, albums, songs, and legacies that shape Canadian music across genres and generations.
Now marking 10 years with CARAS, Morgante finds herself reflecting on her decade with the Academy and in the industry as a whole – a career which she says came about unexpectedly but traces back to her early passion for the arts.
“Working in the music industry was a complete accident – but I was always a creative person,” she says. “I was a competitive dancer while growing up, and also started feeling that pressure from society to go to university and get a ‘real job,’ rather than trying to be an artist with all the unpredictability that goes along with that.”
Following a post-graduate degree at George Brown College in sports and events marketing, Morgante set her sights on a job in the entertainment or sports industry prior to landing an internship at CARAS.
But after starting the internship at CARAS in 2015, reporting to industry veterans Allan Reid (now President & CEO) and Chris Topping (then Vice-President; now acting Programming Director at Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall), Morgante was hooked.
When her internship ended, she went back to school to finish her final semester, but heard from Reid a few months later offering her a job at CARAS – just not one she had expected. The opening was for a receptionist, but Morgante decided to accept the role to stay connected and work her way up within the organization.
Just a few months later, Morgante landed a coordinator position in the Academy’s Operations department – the same team she now oversees today.
In her role, Morgante leads strategy for the JUNO Awards, CARAS’ Special Awards (including the Humanitarian Award, International Achievement Award, Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award), and The Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
That work includes developing new Award categories (including the announcement of a new Latin Music Recording of the Year award during the recent 2026 JUNO nominations) and amplifying underrepresented voices to reflect and elevate the full spectrum of Canadian talent.
“Academy Operations is the heartbeat of CARAS, and I oversee the process of artists submitting their music for JUNO Awards consideration across all 47 categories, and facilitating our music advisory committee, review process, judges selection, and then the voting process,” Morgante explains, noting that her work encapsulates the artist journey from submission to nomination and then hopefully winning a JUNO.
“The other part of what I do is oversee the CARAS Academy delegate program, which is essentially our industry membership,” she adds, pointing out benefits of the program include education, resources, and networking opportunities – including the ability to vote on JUNO Award categories.
“And then the final part is our industry and public ticketing. We also act as the promoter for the JUNO Awards and all of our events – setting up ticketing for all public access to JUNO Week events and also facilitating industry access, including nominees, VIPs, and invited guests.”
None of that critical work could be done without the energy and ideas early-career staff bring to CARAS, Morgante stresses. As someone who began her career as an intern herself, she’s all too aware of how pivotal such opportunities can be for young people starting out in the industry.
“We bring in interns every year, and when we offer those opportunities, nobody is getting coffee like you would see in the movies – we are providing people with the skills they need to get their first steps in the industry,” she says.
“The manager that currently reports to me in our department actually started as my intern, so developing the next generation is clearly part of our success.”
These emerging industry professionals aren’t afraid to speak their mind and let their creativity show, Morgante observes – traits she feels will help them in a highly competitive business.
Given how CARAS has offered her space to thrive as a leader, Morgante is cognizant of trying to pass on what she’s learned to her staff, including insights she gleaned from her early mentors.
“My first boss in Academy Operations was Laura Bryan – I remember really looking up to her, because she was the definition of professionalism, integrity, and passion, and she was always in our corner advocating for us,” Morgante recalls.
“This job is not always easy, but she was always clear on putting the artist and our mission first, even during times that were challenging or busy. So every once in a while when I’m in a hard situation, I think, ‘What would Laura do?’”
Morgante also acknowledges her first managers, Chris Topping and Allan Reid, noting she learned to be detail-oriented from the former (“no job is too big or too small – one day you could be doing something glamorous like escorting an artist to their green room, then the next day you might be stuffing envelopes – it’s all just as important”) and a focus on serving artists from the latter.
“Allan’s definitely been a mentor for me in my career – he believed in and supported me throughout my journey to leading the department. Now I report to him, and we work very closely together,” she says. “His passion for centering artists has never wavered throughout his many years in the industry – it’s inspiring to work for someone who has such a clear alignment to that mission.”
At this stage in her career, Morgante says she’s keen to give back within the industry – in addition to speaking on panels and sitting on award committees, she was recently part of the Women in Music mentorship program (and her mentee even ended up landing an internship at The JUNOS), and hopes to join more boards and other sector organizations.
“That 10-year milestone led to a lot of reflection – and after so much growth, I know there’s still much more growing to do. I think the next phase of what I would really like to do is to step out from behind my desk a little bit more to do more mentorship and integrate more with the ecosystem outside of our CARAS world,” she says.
With the 2026 JUNO Awards around the corner, Morgante is busy being pulled in a million directions in the lead-up to the big week, but with a big milestone anniversary behind her, she’s still finding time to think back to some of the highlights of her career while looking ahead to the future.
While she’s experienced plenty of exciting occasions through the work CARAS does to recognize artists, Morgante recalls a particularly moving moment from 2017 when Indigenous singer-songwriter William Prince performed his song “Breathless” during the In Memoriam segment at the JUNO Gala Dinner & Awards, just after winning his first JUNO Award.
“At the time, he was actually homeless and living in his car – that performance changed the trajectory of his career, and he’s gone on to great things,” she says. “That’s just one story that pulls at the heartstrings – but in our department, we are regularly face-to-face with the artists, and so we get to see them achieve what they have been working toward their entire lives.”
In reflecting on her path to industry leader, Morgante is reminded of her early days when called upon to offer wisdom or advice to those just starting out in the music business.
“The advice I would give to my younger self is, funnily enough, in a way exactly what I had done,” she says with a laugh. “I think you just have to say yes to the opportunities that come your way, even if they don’t seem like the perfect fit at the time, because you never know who you’re going to meet along the way or what you might learn in the process.
“You’re going to work harder than you ever thought possible – but if you really love what you do, it’s going to be rewarding. There’s going to be so much growth in your journey that you’ll get where you need to go if you just say yes and work hard,” she adds.
“Thinking back over my career, it’s a little bit of a ‘pinch me’ moment for me personally, because I remember being in high school and being the one who made CDs for all my friends. What keeps me inspired is that I often can’t believe I’m working in the music industry – I’m still so grateful for the opportunity.”
