Texas Music Office, Levitt Pavilion Arlington, and Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau Present Texas Sounds and Cities 2021

Join Levitt Pavilion Arlington, Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau, and the Texas Music Office for the 3rd annual Texas Sounds and Cities Conference. The two-day conference will include panel discussions on Texas music scene development, conversations about potential state-wide collaboration between the certified communities, as well as conversations spotlighting economic development best practices which in turn lead to increased music tourism and music scene cohesion. This yearly conference is a time for our Music Friendly Communities to come together and learn from each other. Music Friendly Community Liaisons are invited to present updates from their respective programs. There will be time for round table discussions to learn from the successes and challenges of their fellow certified communities.

Purchase Tickets

AGENDA:

Thursday, September 9, 2021:

• 7:00pm – Networking Reception at Texas Live!... Arlington’s premier dining and entertainment district. Local artist performance at 7:00pm and at 8:00pm.

Friday, September 10, 2021:

All day events will take place at Globe Life Field – the home of the Texas Rangers.   Learn from the Texas Music Office, music industry professionals and certified Music Friendly Communities during the Educational sessions.

• 8:00am – Networking Breakfast
• 9:00am – TMO Director Brendon Anthony's welcome address / Arlington's welcome / TMO's Chip Adams' presentation
• 9:30am – Panel 1 - Kate Durio, CEO, North America, Sound Diplomacy
  Fort Worth, Texas’ First Music Friendly Community + Texas Leads in Music Ecosystem Support and Development
• 10:30am – Break
• 10:45am – City presentations:

  • 10:45am: Arlington – (Letatia Teykl, Executive Director, Levitt Pavilion Arlington) (Jamar Jones, Assistant Professor and Music Industry Studies Area Coordinator, University of Texas at Arlington) (Dan Cavanagh, Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, College of Liberal Arts, Professor of Music, University of Texas at Arlington)

  • 11:00am: San Antonio (Krystal Jones, Film, Music, and Marketing Administrator, City of San Antonio Department of Arts & Culture)

  • 11:15am: Lubbock (Stacy Keith, Director, Lubbock Cultural Arts Foundation)

  • 11:30am: San Antonio (Krystal Jones, Film, Music, and Marketing Administrator, City of San Antonio Department of Arts & Culture)

• 11:45am – Networking Lunch
• 12:45pm: Panels
  • 12:45pm - Brendon Anthony and Dr. Michael Seman (Assistant Professor of Arts Management, Colorado State University) will have a conversation discussing state and city government code enforcement within live music districts.
  • 1:15pm - Brendon Anthony and Edwin Cabaniss (Founder / President, Kessler Presents) will discuss the effects of the Covid-19 shutdown on live music venues; the struggle to reopen, maintain employees, and return to business; as well as the creation and passage of the live music venue classification bill and the TABC tax rebate bill. Cabaniss was instrumental in advocating for Texas’ small capacity venues during the creation of the two recently passed bills.
  • 1:45pm - Brendon Anthony and economist Jon Hockenyos (President, TXP, Inc.) will discuss the importance of tracking the music industry via economic impact studies, and why 2019 economic impact data was so important for establishing a high water mark baseline … which the music industry can use as they set their sights on a complete economic recovery from the detrimental effects of Covid-19 mitigation.

• 2:15pm - Break

• 2:30pm – City Breakout sessions

• 3:45pm – Breakout presentations

• 4:45pm – Final remarks

What is a Texas "Music Friendly Community"?

On December 18, 2020, Arlington was designated the twentieth music-friendly city in Texas by the Texas Music Office, Office of the Governor’s “Music-Friendly Communities” certification program. The certification reflects a commitment to convene and support local music and musicians, measuring their economic impact and creating an environment for long-term support. More communities in Texas have become music-friendly and the movement is growing.