Maximizing the Impact of Music on Cities in Alberta
June 26, 2023 | Industry Report, Music, Alberta, Calgary, Edmonton
We love our clients and we love what they’re doing to build our Albertan communities!
We want to shine a spotlight on some exciting work we’re doing with West Anthem.
West Anthem has been hard at work in Alberta’s music scene since 2014—consistently highlighting the economic benefits of a thriving music industry and providing recommendations to the government and other sector partners. In 2020, they published the West Anthem Music Ecosystem Study. This deep dive into music in Edmonton, Calgary and Alberta set the stage to develop a strategic plan to establish the province as a thriving music hub:. You know, rolling prairies: where the good times roll.
Not familiar with West Anthem?
Let us introduce you. West Anthem—this is our amazing, incredibly intelligent and clearly very discerning reader. Reader—this is West Anthem, an
organization established to help stimulate the growth and sustainability of Alberta’s music industry, a firm advocate of music cities, and a staunch supporter of Albertan music. You can learn more about them on their website.
Which brings us to today’s exciting spotlight: partnering with the Government of Alberta, Alberta Music and the National Music Centre, West Anthem is developing music city strategies for Edmonton, Calgary, and a toolkit for smaller jurisdictions.
How? Building on the Ecosystem Study of 2020, Bird Creatives has worked with West Anthem to update study findings (fun fact: over 20,000 jobs were supported by the music ecosystem in Alberta in 2020), conduct additional secondary research into existing strategies (17 to be exact), and begun engagement work with music industry members (we’re talking musicians, venue owners, sound engineers, festival producers, manufacturers, funders, labels, publicists, radio promoters, managers, etc.)—all of it will eventually form the two strategies and a handy dandy toolkit for those of us outside the major cities. This project is coming together in four phases: two phases of research, one phase of engagement and a final phase for writing the strategies and developing the toolkit.
As we complete the phases, we’re writing up summary reports for anyone who wants to follow along and doing our best to share findings and resources on the dedicated West Anthem project page. We’ve just released the West Anthem Music City Strategies Phase One Report so check it out and find out why we’re so proud of who we get to work with.
Did you know? They don’t just publish reports. Recognizing the extreme pressure venues, musicians and industry professionals faced during the pandemic, West Anthem focused on drawing attention to music industry concerns (i.e., extended business closures, impacts on live performance workers, venue insurance concerns, etc.). They even obtained funding to run the Downtown Music Vibrancy Relaunch Grant for music venues, organizations and artists in Edmonton. Was yours truly involved? All signs point to yes.
