Music Cities & The USA: Sound Diplomacy On The Road….

Since early September, I’ve been living in the United States, mainly in Nashville & New Orleans, working on introducing music policies around the US, Canada & the Caribbean. It has been a whirlwind. As this trip comes to a close I thought it’s time to update you on our state of music cities in the US, and our work to ensure that every city, town & place — from coast to coast — looks at music seriously, from economic development to tourism, skills development to citizen enlivenment.

Here are my notes from the road.

• Surround Sound Labs: In September I went to an event organised by The Music District in Fort Collins, Colorado, bringing together 50–75 odd professionals across urban music policy to discuss best practice, trends & ideas. A number of cities & towns were there, from across the midwest, the south & the northeast, plus friends from Melbourne, Australia. It was terrific. An event like this, coupled with our Music Cities Convention, demonstrates the growth of music as an economic, social & cultural driver in city policy. Some terrific presentations, including from our clients Walton Family Foundation and our partners on Music Cities Convention 2017, Memphis Music Initiative, were my highlights of the trip.

1. Our Music Cities Convention in Lafayette, LA: Two weeks later we were in Lafayette (amazing, amazing city), with representatives of cities and governments from all over the world, in Cajun & Zydeco country. Al Bell, former Chairman of Motown & Stax was our keynote (he delivered a brilliant speech) and we featured content from as far reaching as: Tamworth, Australia; Ramallah, Palestine; Frutillar, Chile; Kirklees, UK; and across the US, from Alaska to Colorado, Philadelphia to Tulsa. Over 250 people attended and we featured more music than ever, which is something we’re going to be implementing in future events. Have a look at me on the news, and here’s a report on Al’s keynote speech.
2. Music Cities On the Road: I have travelled across the US over the last few months, visiting nearly a dozen states and even more cities, whilst chatting with dozens more about their music ecosystems, and how valuable they are. At the same time, we’ve been actively recruiting for new members to join us in the US at Sound Diplomacy, across research, project management and business development. We’ve had conversations with State leaders, Mayors, CEOs of Economic Development Corporations and countless musicians, about what works and what doesn’t. And of course, been visiting and working across our existing projects, all of which I’m excited about. They include (in no particular order):

A: Indianapolis — Working with Indy Chamber, MOKB Presents, the Mayor of Indianapolis and other stakeholders, we will be launching our strategic work in the city next year. At the same time, the City launched its #CreateIndy Program and a new set of festivals, led by MOKB & partners, has been created.

B: Huntsville, AL — What an amazing city. Our initial findings are in (I presented them at a Town Hall meeting) and we’re readying our final strategic plan with our many partners, including the City of Huntsville, RCP Companies, Codie G, Huntsville Arts and others. At the same time, a new amphitheatre is being designed and built, along with a few new music venues. And new music industry networking events have popped up in the city, which is music to our ears.

C: Vancouver — We launched this strategy with our many partners over the summer and since, the city has committed $400k CAD in support to music facilities, infrastructure, policy & regulation. Watch this space.

D: Northwest Arkansas (Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale, Fayetteville) — Working with our clients the Walton Family Foundation and NW Arkansas Council, we’ll be soon launching further stakeholder engagement, following a trip that featuring a number of roundtables and me visiting to conduct a town hall meeting. In progress, and exciting.

E: Americana Music Triangle — While Pilgrimage Festival sadly got rained out (it’ll be back in full force in ‘19), we’ve been working behind the scenes with our partners, the Americana Music Triangle, to expand its reach both nationally & internationally. More exciting news to come here.

F: San Francisco — We have begun our work developing a music ecosystem for the City of San Francisco’s Office of Economic & Workforce Development. More soon.

G: The United Nations — We attended the UN General Assembly’s official Sustainable Development Goal event, as we have signed a Media Compact with the UN to promote the SDGs in all our work & actions. We’ll soon we launching information about this, including more work across a number of UN initiatives and agencies. We’re also finishing our three year pilot project with UNIDO in Cuba, to develop an industrial music strategy that can be implemented in developing music markets, all over the world.

H: Muscle Shoals Region, AL — I had an amazing Town Hall meeting in Florence, Alabama, as we work towards delivering our strategy for the Muscle Shoals Region, which includes Muscle Shoals, Tuscumbia, Florence and Sheffield, Alabama. And engaging with our partners Muscle Shoals Sound, FAME, Single Lock Records and others has introduced us to some of the best music we’ve heard in a long time.

I: Events: We’re readying a number of new events in the US & Canada for 2019 and 2020, including a return to the US for Music Cities Convention, which will be announced soon. We will also be announcing our next Music Cities Convention & Music Tourism Convention in the next week.

J: Arts Midwest & South Arts: While not particular to the US, we’ve been working on export development with these two terrific regional arts organisations. And we’ll be doing more.

We’re also launching a guide to Music Tourism for the UN World Tourism Organisation, in partnership with Pro Colombia. It is being launched at World Travel Market, the SXSW for the travel & tourism world. It’s the first guide ever written, for the UN, to music tourism. Proud of this one. You can download it here.

Also, shout out to our close friend Elizabeth Cawein from Signal Flow PR. Her TED talk got picked up by the official TED feed (over 600k views) and she’s now creating a class in Music Urbanism at a college in Memphis. Inspiring.

And much more. We’re growing and soon — in early ’19 — be announcing a number of partners across the US we’re working with, plus the location (or locations) we’ll be based. I’ll keep this updated more frequently and for any questions, ping me.