Award-winning artist returns to NSCC for headliner performance
After 12 years on the music scene, Leanne Hoffman (Music Arts ’13) returns to her old stomping grounds as one of the main headliners at NSCC’s Spark Creativity showcase this spring.
The immersive, multi-disciplinary art showcase features a wide range of exhibits from NSCC Creative Industries students and alumni. Net proceeds from the event go to the Spark Creativity Bursary Fund to support student awards aimed at those from communities under-represented in the creative sector.
“I'm truly honored!” says Leanne about the upcoming performance. “Any time that I'm given an opportunity like Spark Creativity, it fills the confidence cup a bit and then I can keep going with making it as best as I can.”
While anyone who has seen Leanne perform can feel her natural creative energy flow, she says music wasn’t her first or second career choice.
Finding her voice and overcoming mental health challenges
Originally from Ontario, Leanne moved to Nova Scotia to attend university where she studied science for a few years before switching to a writing focus – however it still didn’t feel right.
“I think if you're just aiming at the completely wrong career path, which I was, it's never going to feel right,” explains Leanne who withdrew from university to figure out her next steps.
“I've always had a love of music. I feel like I was a closet music lover for a long time. I didn't start to write it, think about it or participate in it until I was in high school.”
Uncertain about her career path, she enrolled in the Music Arts program after someone suggested she consider studying music at NSCC.
“I had a lot of mental health struggles in my early 20s. It's kind of surprising, looking back on how distraught I was, that I like made that decision to study music which kind of changed my entire life,” says Leanne.
“NSCC started my career. I left knowing the things that I am good at, and that's what I focus on doing. I learned how to perform, put on a show and all the makings of having your own career.”
Immediately after her graduation from NSCC, she started singing background vocals and playing keys for a bunch of different bands for many years.
“I needed to go do my own thing because my cup wasn't full,” Leanne recounts her decision to launch her solo artist career. She adds that former NSCC instructor Erin Costelo, who hired her for background vocals previously, helped her take the jump to solo artistry.
“Erin has had the biggest impact on my career and creative life. She's been my number one supporter and a person who helps guide my creative decisions. She runs the label that I'm on and has become a close friend.”
In May 2019, Leanne released her debut solo album “What Remains”, earning five music award nominations and winning two.
Dreaming big, working harder
Not shy on ambitions, Leanne tackled more projects and established herself as an artist. She studied Music Production and Engineering at Berklee College of Music in Boston with the goal of being able to produce her own music.
By the end of 2023, she wrote and released her second album, “The Text Collector” which she co-produced with Erin.
The songs on her second album were based on her own original poems written over the course of 2022 as part of a personal project to write one poem every day for a year. She also self-published a book with the poems, which shares its name with the album.
“I'm a visual artist as well, so on top of the book and songs for The Text Collector, I had an art show. I made an art piece for every song which were all sold during my book release,” says Leanne.
Outside of her music, Leanne has written songs with over a dozen artists in the Maritimes, the United States, Paris and London that range in genres from Country and Folk to R&B and Jazz.
“If I could only ever be brainstorming like dreaming, creating, executing and then starting over again. I would do that for the rest of my life” says Leanne.