Texas Music Office Outreach in the Community
In the Texas Music Office's continuing mission to make Texas a more interconnected music business landscape, Anthony traveled to San Antonio and met with members of the San Antonio music community - including San Antonio Sound Garden, team members of San Antonio's Department of Arts & Culture, San Antonio City Council staff, and more - to discuss various issues, including creating a designated entertainment district along St. Mary's Street, and working with San Antonio to become an official "Music Friendly Community." For more info about the new "Music Friendly Community" program, please see the requirements.
Additionally, TMO Marketing Coordinator Marc Fort attended the ribbon cutting for Notes For Notes Studios. Notes For Notes is a national nonprofit organization that designs, equips, and staffs recording studios - packed with instruments - offering youth FREE access to explore, create, and record music so that music may become a profoundly positive influence in their lives.
The Austin studio was Notes For Notes' first recording studio in Texas; they anticipate expanding into more cities around the nation (beyond the 15 cities that they're already operating in). For more info, see notesfornotes.org.
Fort also joined other central Texas civic leaders in Capital View Arts' "Hip Hop/Urban Music Summit" at Doris Miller Auditorium in East Austin. The nonprofit Capital View Arts brought together music industry professionals, Austin and various Texas-based hip hop and urban music artists, and community members vested in developing and supporting the Austin hip hop and urban music community for round-table discussions on how to develop and foster the growth of the genre in the city.
More than 70 community members and civic leaders attended the afternoon meeting, including District 1 Austin City Council Member Ora Houston, City of Austin Assistant City Manager Mark Washington, and City of Austin Assistant Director of Economic Development Sylnovia Holt-Rabb.
The hip hop/urban music artists and community members in attendance broke into round-table groups of 10-15 people, with a assigned facilitator who moderated lively discussions on topics including: what are the challenges for artists in the Hip-Hop/Urban music community, what is holding back the successful development of the Hip-Hop/Urban music genre in Austin, what would artists need from a development program to achieve their version of success, and several other topics.
At the end of the round-table discussions, Houston-based entertainment attorney Stephanie K. Hay provided the musicians and community members in attendance with a short talk on music business best practices. Hay covered several of the topics that she teaches as an Adjunct Professor in the Commercial Music Business Program at Houston Community College, including music publishing, musician revenue streams, and legal considerations for musicians.
Capitol View Arts will use the feedback from the artists and community members in attendance to produce a report on the state of the Austin Hip Hop/Urban music industry, which will be used foster the development of the genre, with the goal of producing more economic independence for artists and the community as a whole.