“Don’t restart, reimagine” was the theme of MPF’s 2022 events in Washington, DC. As we began planning this year’s Intensive and conference, three concepts kept surfacing:
1. There is a fundamental disconnect between the importance of music and how that is reflected in the current marketplace.
2. We have major opportunities to align interests of musicians, policymakers, music businesses, non-profits and other stakeholder groups, and,
3. The City of Boise is a fascinating petri dish of a robust ecosystem with all elements of the community aligning to create something we all can learn from.
So, on December 8, MPF is honored to work with Music Idaho, the City of Boise, Boise State University, and Campfire Music Foundation to present the Cascadia Music Summit – an in-person and virtual conference focusing on opportunities to build and sustain collaborative music infrastructure across the entire Cascadia music corridor.
Inspired by years of work by regional stakeholders to visualize the Cascadia Music Corridor, the Cascadia Music Summit highlights leadership and challenges faced throughout the Cascadia region (Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and Idaho) in an effort to identify and promote specific initiatives and strategies that can both strengthen the region while serving as an inspiration for other national and international collaborations.
Rooted in MPF’s mission to visualize and support stronger, more equitable and more resilient music ecosystems, this event bring together a wide range of stakeholders – musicians, policymakers, venue owners, non-profits, foundations, public radio leaders and music businesses – in vast conversations exploring challenges and opportunities facing our communities.
The Cascadia Music Summit will take place on December 8, 2023 at the Egyptian Theater. We hope you will join us, either in person or on-line.
Music Policy Forum Board of Directors
Michael Bracy, Kate Becker, Hakim Bellamy, Anna Celenza, Dani Grant, Ashlye Keaton, Dena Morris
The Cascadia Music Summit takes place the following day after Music Policy Forum's annual Intensive, a one-day workshop aimed at fostering close connections and dialogue between regional stakeholders. For more information, please reach out to musicpolicyforum@gmail.com or mbracy@btbv.com.
*all topics subject to change*
Since before the pandemic, music advocates across the Pacific Northwest have explored developing collaborative infrastructure that would support the vibrant yet fragile music ecosystems across Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Idaho. What are the core ideas behind this concept? How can this geographically vast region become more interconnected to support collaboration and mutual engagement? What are the next steps in development and rollout?
The Cascadia region is well known for festivals and venues that are community anchors and beloved by artists and audiences alike. At the same time, many cities grapple with post-pandemic dynamics, including fewer downtown workers, housing and public health challenges and uncertainty about the future of work. How do festivals and venues relate to these broader civic challenges? And does the live music industry present an opportunity to strengthen a workforce development pipeline by strengthening partnerships with Creative Youth Development organizations?
Every cliche about being a professional musician in this era is true: it is absolutely the best of time and worst of times. Building and sustaining a music career can be exhausting and overwhelming, especially in the geographically isolated Cascadia region. What challenges are specific to the Cascadia region, and what challenges might apply more broadly to all music workers? How can we as stakeholders and advocates build more tangible and meaningful support for professional musicians? What are the tradeoffs involved in staying based in Cascadia?
All music stakeholders are reliant on qualitative and quantitative data to inform policies, strategies and initiatives. Music Policy Forum joins many other music advocates in celebrating the maturation and acceleration of the field, including a richer understanding of how to utilize best practices and quantitative data, what questions are the “right” ones to ask under different circumstances and how the field can maximize return on investment through lower research costs and higher overall impact. What are the most exciting trends in research design? Are there great examples of how data has been effectively used to shape policy? And are there any pitfalls that should be avoided in commissioning or executing research strategies?
Bandwidth is always a structural challenge for the music community – musicians and music workers are always so focused on immediate needs that it can be difficult to think outside the box. The public sector, on the other hand, is always eager to apply best practices or models that can be translated from other communities or industries. What are relevant strategies, networks, funding streams or approaches that work in other sectors and could be applied to the music community? And how can policymakers accelerate their understanding that thriving local creative ecosystems are a key tool in addressing other societal priorities?
Our work as music stakeholders is rooted in a fundamental contradiction: the underlying importance of music for our humanity, sense of community and expression is rarely in alignment with the economic structures of the industry. To that end, we are constantly searching for policies, strategies and funding initiatives that compensate artists, increase the public’s access to music and strengthen the small businesses that struggle to sustain in a difficult marketplace. Advocates, policymakers and philanthropists are constantly innovating in pursuit of tangible initiatives that can align with music to support multiple civic objectives while being replicable or scalable. How can these initiatives inform our own work as we look for regional solutions?