City effort to promote music ‘imploding’ amid resignations
Hamilton’s strategy to promote and nurture the local music scene has been left in disarray with the resignation of several members of its industry advisory committee, including the co-chairs, citing frustration with what they see as lack of support from the city.
“It looks like the whole thing is imploding,” said Jeffrey Martin, who two weeks ago resigned as co-chair of the Hamilton Music Industry Working Committee (MIWC), struck with the support of city council three years ago to help promote and nurture the city’s burgeoning music scene.
The resignation of Martin, president of Quorum Communications Inc., was followed by those of fellow co-chair Madeline Wilson, who runs Front Room Entertainment artist management and concert promotion, and Scott Warren, president and CEO of Core Entertainment, which operates FirstOntario Centre and FirstOntario Concert Hall.
Wilson said two other members — musician Dan Medakovic and Lara Farcasan of Music Managers Forum — have also left since she informed the committee of her resignation on Wednesday.
“It’s clear that my vision of what I understood the committee to be does not in fact align with what the city now intends it to be,” Wilson said Thursday, noting the volunteer committee has devoted “thousands of hours” to devising and implementing a music strategy for the city.
The 17-member committee came together with high expectations at the initiative of the city’s economic development department as an outgrowth of Hamilton’s successful 2015 Juno Awards bid.
Initially, the city backed the committee with a full-time music officer, but the music office was combined with film shortly after the Junos left town. Since then, the city’s liaison with the committee has been handled by a Tourism Hamilton staffer also tasked with assisting other creative industries.
Wilson and Martin noted London and Toronto have staff members dealing full time with their city’s music industry.
“The city is still very strongly behind the music strategy,” said Hamilton’s planning and economic development manager Jason Thorne, who is attending a Canadian Urbanism conference in Winnipeg. “It is a key part of our economic development strategy. That commitment remains very strong …
“What we’re doing as a department is putting what resources we have behind it. Unfortunately, we don’t have the resources for a full-time dedicated staff person just on this sector. We’re doing as much as we can with the resources that we’ve got.”
Last year, the city gave the committee a $50,000 budget, which allowed it to form a website, compile an industry database and co-sponsor one of the stages at last weekend’s Supercrawl.
The committee has also worked with the city to help club venues obtain loading-in and loading-out permits; formed a committee to bring together local venue operators; and helped musicians gain microloans for projects from FirstOntario Credit Union.
The committee also worked closely with city staff and councillors to put together new zoning regulations to allow licensed establishments in seven areas of the city to have live or recorded music on outdoor patios. The patio initiative, however, was blocked when a North End residents’ group appealed the zoning changes to the Ontario Municipal Board.
Committee members had also hoped to commission a consultant’s report about the economic impact of the music industry on the Hamilton economy and re-establishment of a full-time music office, as well as a banner program or walk of fame, highlighting the city’s rich musical history.
Martin, who estimated he had devoted 600 hours of work on the music strategy in the past three years, said the committee’s goal was to have a $120,000 budget for next year, with 70 per cent of that coming from the city. So far, the city has promised no additional funding or staff assistance.
Warren — who previously managed venues in Cleveland, home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — said he was getting “frustrated” with the gap between the committee’s hopes and what the city was prepared to support financially.
“I really wanted to create this music DNA in our city, whether a music-specific walk of fame or a banner project that would declare it a music city.”
Martin and Thorne said it may be time to move away from the current committee model as an advisory body to the city’s economic development department.
“I frankly think that the amount of work and the passion and energy that exists with that group has outgrown the model that we have in place right now,” Thorne said. “Maybe it’s time to look at whether the industry forms its own group to deliver on some of the elements of the music strategy.”