Josh O’Kane

Josh O’Kane covers the institutions, economics and policy that underpin arts and culture. His reporting seeks to explain the forces that shape the artistic world, especially as it reckons with new fiscal realities after pandemic lockdowns. This includes everything from organizational collapses, leadership battles and technological disruption to shifting financial strategies, slice-of-life tales and stories of resilience. He always welcomes your story tips.

He has spent much of his career reporting on technology and music, and is the author of two national bestsellers: a 2016 biography of Nova Scotia musician Joel Plaskett and 2022’s Sideways: The City Google Couldn’t Buy, which investigates the failed effort by Google sister company Sidewalk Labs to build a future-focused neighbourhood in Toronto. That book was a finalist for numerous Canadian and international publishing prizes, and was adapted for the stage as The Master Plan.

O’Kane’s reporting has won awards from Germany's Internationale Journalisten-Programme and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing’s Canadian chapter. He has extensively reported from Berlin and the Atlantic provinces, and is based in Toronto.