Arlene Paculan creates soulful pop with passion. The Filipino-Canadian’s recent successful debut album, “Everything Begins with Love” has been embraced by CBC Radio. Arlene was named the runner-up for NOW Toronto Magazine’s Best Songwriter for 2015 and she was in the Top 10 Regional Finals for CBC’s Searchlight Contest in the same year. She is currently nominated for Best Pop Artist in the Mississauga Music Awards for 2017.
Arlene has graced many stages across Toronto, including Nathan Phillips Square, Yonge & Dundas Square and Mississauga Celebration Square. In addition to her performances around the GTA, she has also performed in LA, NYC, Anaheim, across Canada, and adventured through her first European tour in the fall of 2015 playing in front of audiences in England, Scotland, Holland and France. Notable festivals and events she has performed at include Taste of the Danforth, Beaches International Street Fest, Bread & Honey, Mabuhay Philippines Festival, CHIN Picnic, YYZ Live, Paisley Arts Festival in Scotland, Pedestrian Sundays, and more. In 2012, Arlene played at TD Toronto Jazz Festival and performed again in the 2015 season for the full length of the festival at Habits Gastropub. She has opened for Canadian songstress Jill Barber, as part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Celebration.
With her song, I’m Worth It, her goal is to remind individuals to trust and believe that they can achieve anything they put their minds to. She aims to campaign the idea globally and to be an empowering positive voice for women. As Executive Producer for her company, Let’s Make Good Productions (LMG), she produces many events including WonderFest which showcases local talent and offers free workshops to all ages. The goal of LMG is to spread empowerment through art. For this, she was awarded 2014’s Hazel McCallion Volunteer of the Year MARTY Award in acknowledgment of her work encouraging others to be creative in their daily lives.
Arlene is a graduate of the Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts in Toronto and also studied piano through the Royal Conservatory of Music. Arlene plays cover songs from 1930s to the present, but it is as a singer songwriter that she has made her name in Toronto. Her debut EP album “I’m Worth It” was released under the production team, Kuya Productions. Rob Rapiti from BLR Entertainment has described her voice as “haunting, yet passionate”. Who knew such a ‘beautiful, natural singing voice’ could come from such a shy little girl who used to whisper in conversation growing up?
Before songwriting, Arlene has graced the stage as an actress, garnering the roles in such plays and musicals as Juliet (Romeo & Juliet), Nancy (Oliver), Rizzo (Grease), Laurey (Oklahoma), Kate (Shotgun Wedding), Puck (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Tiger Lily (Peter Pan), and Josie Pye (Anne of Green Gables). She hosted her own TV show, Night Time with Arlene Paculan on Rogers TV in Toronto, Mississauga, and Brampton and is now currently hosting a new web series, The Hive.