In 2001/02, Esprit produced Canada's first-ever New Wave Composers Festival. This well-attended two-day event served as a platform and 'hang-out' for 14 rising-star Canadian composers who travelled from across North America to attend. Guest filmmakers and composers from Holland added an international flavour.

The festival was a forum for these emerging artists to exchange ideas, meet the public, participate in seminars and panel discussions, and plan for participation in future Esprit events. Many of these rising star composers had never met one another, making the festival a point of contact that created an important sense of cohesion for this "happening" new generation of composers.