Global delegates to attend Alberta Music Cities Convention in Calgary

Delegates from around the world will be coming to the National Music Centre next week with advice on how to turn Calgary into a Music City.

More than 300 policymakers, industry leaders and city builders from as far away as Singapore, Jamaica and the Bahamas will be here for the three-day Alberta Music Cities Convention, from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1.

"Cities and states and governments and countries around the world that have thriving music communities usually, if you do the research, have policies which have enabled their cities or wherever they are to become successful music economies," said National Music Centre president and CEO Andrew Mosker.

"Often, people think that those things happen organically, but behind that there is actually quite a bit of work done on policy. If you're interested in coming to the Music Cities Convention, what is interesting about it being in Calgary is that it's a big tent of people who are involved in the music economy."

That can include artists, managers, record label owners, agents, developers, landowners, hotel organizations, tourism officials, studio owners, publishers and others who would benefit from music-friendly policies or could help develop them. Sessions and talks will be presented by representatives from cities with thriving music economies such as San Francisco, Memphis, Huntsville, Ala., Dallas, London, Ont., Toronto and Vancouver, among others.

"Everyone is invited, but the people I think who will get the most from it are those interested in the long-term, big picture of how Calgary can become a more music-friendly place," Mosker said. "If they are interested in being aligned with music in a popular way to drive their business — like landowners or developers who often own buildings where there is live music."

The idea of bolstering Calgary's music economy has been in the news recently. Earlier this month, Premier Danielle Smith offered the headline-friendly notion of turning Calgary into "Nashville North" after visiting Tennessee and meeting with the state's Chamber of Commerce and tourism industry leaders. They discussed how Nashville became a world-renowned music hub, which is the direct result of 25 years of developing specific policies that helped that city's music industry pour $28.3 billion into the economy.

In August, Alberta appointed Jennifer Venance as the province's first music commissioner. She will act as a point of contact between government and the music sector to help boost the music economy.

While there has been some direct activity in recent months, the idea of boosting music in Calgary and other Alberta municipalities has been an ongoing discussion for more than a decade. Mosker also co-founded West Anthem in 2012, an advocacy group that has spent years collecting data on the benefits of turning Calgary into a "music city." The three-day conference will allow attendees to hear from those who can present examples of thriving music cities.

Among the delegates at the conference will be Elizabeth Cawein, founder and executive director of Music Export Memphis, the world's first nonprofit city export office.

"Memphis is a place that has a lot of authentic musical history," Mosker says. "It's had a big impact around the world, not just Elvis Presley but the Delta region and as a blues and R&B melting pot. So learning from what Memphis has been doing, because there are still a lot of artists who live there. There's still an ecosystem there. Of course, there's tourism there because Beale Street is a place where people go for music tourism. That's just one example."

For more information, visit musiccitiesevents.com.

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