Hollett founded NEXT in 2020, co-founded Toronto’s alternative newsweekly, NOW Magazine in 1981 and founded (NXNE) Music Festival in 1995. NEXT is an upbeat, glossy magazine published monthly in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary featuring arts stories of national interest as well as hyper-local events and arts coverage for all three NEXT cities. NEXT also covers: fashion, food, drink, gaming and cannabis.
“NEXT celebrates what print does best. We use the space for expansive layouts and the pages themselves interact with readers — and smart phones. Some publishers were too quick to give up on print and totally focus on chasing digital dreams. We embrace all that print is uniquely positioned to do better than any other form of media.”
Hollett writes about music, movies and streaming at NEXT. International trips for NEXT include two visits to Iceland to report on local music there and cover the Airwaves music festival as well as a trip to Jamaica where he walked the streets of Bob Marley’s Trench Town with neighborhood guides.
He has also covered the last two TFF film festivals for NEXT .
NEXT does have a website: nextmag.ca and can be followed on all socials at: @nextmagcanada.
As NOW’s founding editor/publisher, from September 10, 1981, Hollett was also NOW’s first music editor which helped inspire him to start NXNE and he has been active in the Toronto, Canadian and international music scene, especially live music, ever since. Hollett was part of a group of music industry leaders who formed Music Canada Live, an advocacy group for the Canadian live music industry, in 2014. Hollett was also a board member of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN) from 2009 until 2016 and was a founding board member of the Alternative News Foundation.
Hollett also wrote extensively on local, provincial and federal politics for NOW as well as general writing including social issues and city life. His regular music writing for NOW complimented his efforts to grow and lead NXNE and he has travelled the world attending music events both to write, network, scout bands and develop contacts with music communities around the planet. NEXT provides new opportunities to introduce artists and audiences.
Hollett has been key in building the idea of Music Cities in Canada and has been a leader in forging the Austin-Toronto Music City Alliance. He has travelled regularly to the Texas Capitol since the mid-80s developing an intimate knowledge of the city, even before the launch of SXSW, in part because of deep friendships and shared vision with that festival’s founders. He went to Austin with Toronto mayors Rob Ford and John Tory, as well as city councillors, seeking to deepen Toronto’s connection with that city’s thriving music scene.
He has attended music festivals and live music events around world including dozens in the US and Canada as well as many in Asia and Europe. As president and managing director of NXNE, he calls these trips invaluable in gaining insights to help build NXNE’s status as one of the most important music events in the world.
He has interviewed a wide range of newsmakers and entertainers including: Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Robert Plant, Robbie Robertson, Woody Harrelson, Frank McCourt, Gil Scott Heron, leading national and civic politicians and many Toronto musicians on the rise.
Hollett was born in Oakville, Ontario to a newspaper family. His parents met at a daily in Hamilton and both of his mother’s parents worked in newspapers. His grandfather Doug Stuebing was the last science editor for the Toronto Telegram and was president of the Toronto Press Club in 1963.
Hollett grew up in Toronto’s Flemingdon Park before going to high school in Ottawa and Montreal. He studied at Toronto’s York University where he edited the campus newspaper, Excalibur and was a member of the student council.
He edited small-town newspapers with stints at the helm of the Orangeville Citizen, the Caledon Citizen and the Halton Hills Herald. While editing the Herald in Georgetown, Ontario, he covered Orson Welles making a tax break film, Sometimes an Honest Thief, in the 70s.
Municipally, he counts covering and participating in the amalgamation fight in the 90s as well as the non-stop madness of covering the Rob Ford years in NOW highlights — and low – on the city side.
Covering the Orange Wave of 2012 remains a national highlight with his on-the-scene election night coverage a cherished memory. Hollett was in NDP leader Jack Layton’s hotel room as the newly crowned Opposition leader watched the results and he calls Layton’s convention hall speech later that night “unforgettable”.
Favourite international trips and stories include: going behind the still-standing Iron Curtain to interview members of the Bulgarian Women’s Choir in that country in the 1980s, touring Japan with Suzanne Vega, scouring Taiwan looking for emerging bands and travelling to China to cover the 2008 Olympics.
Hollett lives in Toronto’s Riverdale neighbourhood and is an avid hockey player. He is a proud member of the Black Stokes hockey club in the Toronto’s Downtown Toronto Men’s League. He has also played in every Juno Cup hockey game at the annual Juno Awards ceremony. The game has raised over $1-million for the Music Counts charity which supplies instruments to public schools across the country.
