North by Northeast (or NXNE) is an annual four-day live music and film festival and music conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, held the second weekend each June.
It began in 1996 and was patterned on the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. Each year, three-dozen music venues host hundreds of bands from Canada, the United States and all over the world. Each music venue hosts five bands a night (9 p.m. onward), and the majority of the venues are grouped along downtown Toronto's Queen St. West, College St. West, and the Bloor St. Annex.
The music conference at NXNE runs for three days at the Holiday Inn on King Hotel which serves as festival headquarters. NXNE delegates, panelists and bands playing the festival are able to participate in discussions, songwriter round tables, keynotes, demo listening and peer critiquing, legal clinics and the very helpful peer mentor sessions. The NXNE conference panels are held Friday and Saturday, and aim to foster a professional environment where musicians, artists and music industry reps can network and share ideas within their field.
A film festival was added in 2001 to run concurrently with the weekend music festival and industry conference, in conjunction with the National Film Board of Canada. Films are primarily music related documentaries and videos. NXNE also has a film showcase at the popular Hot Docs Film Festival.
North by Northeast is a volunteer driven music festival. The dedication and enthusiasm of NXNE volunteers caught the eye of Andrew Loog Oldham (the 2002 keynote speaker), who remarked that NXNE volunteers reminded him of why he originally entered into the music business.
NOW Magazine is a major sponsor, and its owners hold an ownership interest in the festival.
Sketchy is the unofficial mascot of NXNE (since 2006). A few extremely rare stuffed Sketchy rabbits have since appeared on stage at gigs in the UK and North America. Bands have been encouraged to submit photos to Flickr and tag them 'nxnerabbit'.
