The study, titled ‘A Fertile Ground: Alberta Music Cities Initiative,’ looked at the benefits of showcasing Alberta’s music talent.
Calgary will soon have quite the facility to showcase it all.
The National Music Centre, under construction in the East Village, wants to help develop talented musicians to enrich our lives both culturally and economically.
“There are certain elements of the Alberta music scene that require some improvements and some amplification,” said Andrew Mosker, National Music Centre President & CEO.
The report’s author says Alberta is growing amazing artists, musicians and bands, but they move on.
“Many of them leaving so how do we keep the artists and musicians here, so they have a supportive career,” said Amy Terrill.
To make that happen, Terrill said, the industry needs direction and a strategic plan.
The new National Music Centre will open in the spring of 2016, with venues for live performances and a grand stage, to further enhance Calgary’s profile.
“No question, there is a correlation in North America that skilled workers want to live in a place with a vibrant music community. Because that is what people do at night – after they work they want to listen to live music, and see great bands,” Mosker said.
“They want to see new music performed. So that is inherent to attracting and retaining talent to our province and our cities,” he added.
The next steps include developing a live music strategy for the entire province, and gathering stakeholders like Tourism Alberta into a new coalition, to better understand the industry, its economic benefits and future possibilities.
Arts and culture currently add about $8.2 billion to Alberta’s GDP, and employ about 77,000 people.
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