Save the Date - August 17, 2023
Questions for Amplify Music 2023How far have we come and how have changes from the COVID-19 Pandemic impacted different communities and regions?
We will be gathering online August 17 to cover many of the regional changes and emerging trends that have affected many of our music communities.
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Narratives for Change
What do we mean by Resilience, Ecosystems, and Community?
What is Resilience and how is it present or working in our communities?
What is Music and whose diverse arts, places, businesses, and people are we talking about? How are these Musics connected together in human systems? What are the impacts in our actions and recovery by who we talk about?
What do we already know about our communities and ecosystems?
Cutting the Fog — Where might we be going or want to go in our disruption and recovery? How might that be different for different people and communities?
How do these disruptions, challenges, and recovery prepare us for future disruptions and rebuilding of social systems and communities?
Practical Action
What are quick actions that communities can do and are doing?
What are some communities doing that others can learn from NOW?
What pitfalls are we running into already that others can learn from?
How do we create disaster recovery information and get the funding and information to people in diverse communities and circumstances now?
How do we gather data now for political/governmental action?
How do we intentionally design and act in the face of bias and system gaps?
Shared Lived Experiences
What are the experiences in different cities and geographies?
- United States
- Canada
- Europe
- Latin America
- Asia
- Africa
How are they different and how can we combine good ideas?
What are the breadth of areas impacted?
- Venues and live performance
- Nightlife
- DJs and dance clubs
- Music education in and out of schools
- Co-creation and collaboration
- Large festivals and mass gatherings
- Intimate concerts and experiences
- Audio engineering and production
- Tour support
- Service businesses, including food and beverage, services, retail sales, hotels, event marketing, insurance, and the many businesses and creative systems around live events and communities
Social Fabric and Human Experience
How are we sharing these experiences?
What are we developing in Art, Music, and Narrative about our collective and differing experiences?
How are we gathering, sharing, storing, and curating all that we are creating?
How are we archiving local musical history that may be disappearing? This might be venues, passing artists, fragile organizations, etc.
Recovery Economics
How, who, why, which, and how much?
Whose culture(s) will be funded and found worth funding, and by whom? How does this echo existing cultural norms?
How might this create dramatic changes in venue landscapes?
How might this affect unpermitted or popup cultures? Marginalized communities?
Will this change how we use and permit space in the future, changing the economics of venues and events?
Are there emergent new structures and solutions for different populations?
What voices are missing in planning and requests for support funds? Who are the formal and informal requests “not seeing”?
Will this change how we use and permit space in the future, changing the economics of venues and events?
Power Structures
How do government(s), corporations, non-profits, and individuals negotiate and defend their interests?
Who can take action by existing structures and who is left behind?
How do the decision structures reproduce dominant culture representation?
How does the Community and informal organizing interact with government, trade associations, and corporations?
Who is being “counted” and why? What will be future impacts?
Whose stories are not being represented and are missing in our evaluations of financial support?
What is the role of education and educational support in how we deliver solutions and make decisions?
How are large organizations faring in the interim solutions vs. small artists and organizations?
How might we be devaluing artists’ revenues by expanding Freemium models online, accelerated by the burst of livestreams?
How are decisions for fighting and continuing the fight against the disease affecting civil liberties, property rights, anonymity, and how we “appear” in culture?
Changing Social Norms
What patterns are we setting now, and will they continue to change and adjust behavior and norms?
What will change or not change in civil discourse?
What may happen in terms of civil disobedience, and how might that be reflected in and around music as a protest art?
What changes may come overall in “cultural placemaking”?
How might this change behavioral patterns in rideshare and other “shared economy” factors that impact music and events?
How will “gathering” happen on an intermediate basis and in the long term?
May we face big/long-term changes in venues and co-creation communities with new rules and expectations on space and social trust?
Recovery
Practical Resilience Plans
For the nightlife industries, what trends and patterns are needed and planned in recovery
How may this change local governance and community systems?
What can we do for setting up Resilience plans for future disasters, including climate change?
Can we learn from this experience to think more broadly about Resilience and sustainability in the re-development of mass gatherings?
Wellness
For Artists/Musicians and Shared Communities
In the short-term, what can be done with/for/around creators, venues, etc. in supporting their physical health? Mental health?
Tech and Live Experiences
Interim and Connected Experiences
How has music tech responded — e.g., livestreaming, supporting fundraising efforts, new creation/collaboration tools — and how has that helped artists and creators in/with local communities?
How may this change — short- and long-term how food & beverage are delivered and regulated — how we drink, socialize, and convene?
Will livestream experiences change expectations by artists and fans?
How have new aggregation and community systems changed the current economics?
What may happen with music tech in various recoveries (e.g., different places and cultures)?
Futures
What can we build together?
We can rethink the Experience Economy — how might we restructure new solutions in building for recovery?
What are emergent ideas that have developed in different locations that could be expanded proactively for improved ecosystems and communities?
What may be the future relationships between larger mass gatherings and local/community spaces/events?
Has our readiness for Climate Disruption and Megacities – changed?
Will this change where we want to live and create?
Will this lead to new music-related technologies?
Will this lead to a new balance between local music and touring? Local music and government? Local music and support ecosystems? Local music and other local musicians?