Ryan Rathjen

BIO/DESCRIPTION

Purple City’s Executive Director, Ryan Rathjen has worked in the music industry for over 20 years as a musician, booking agent, talent buyer & venue manager. As the longest-sitting board member of Purple City & Up+Dt, Ryan has made significant impact on the non-profit. In 2020, he led the festival’s rebranding, with a vision of collaboration within the community to inspire youth and showcase latest sounds in underground and alternative music. Ushering Purple City through the pandemic, the festival re-surfaced with smashing success in 2022.

In his role at Purple City, Ryan coordinates all aspects of the non-profit and festival activities, from talent-buying, branding & design, to community partnerships, marketing and volunteer support. Outside of Purple City, Ryan is a long-time volunteer and host of CJSR 88.5 FM’s award-winning radio-show, Phased Out that specializes in giving a platform to unheard-of and breaking artists from Canada & around the globe.

In Ryan’s spare time he is the primary songwriter and producer for the Band VERTTIGO and he can be seen Djing around the City.