Mon 12/7 @ 9:30AM-6:30PM
For the past year, there’s been a project underway that combined the energies and know-how of the North Collinwood-based nonprofit Cleveland Rocks: Past, Present and Future and the Recording Arts and Technology (RAT) program at Tri-C’s Metro campus. The aim is to fuel the local music community by training people to work in the area’s growing music businesses, ranging from clubs to vinyl pressing to equipment manufacturing, and to give bands (such as Maura Rogers & the Bellows, pictured above) the hands-on opportunity to work with professionals in the field.
The culmination of the project is a daylong summit, taking place at the Black Box Theatre at Tri-C’s Tommy LiPuma Center for the Creative Arts. It’s open to musicians, educators, promoters, business owners, students and all other interested in how the area music scene is developing.
The day will open at 9:30am at with remarks from Beachland Ballroom owner Cindy Barber who is also the main person behind Cleveland Rocks: Past Present and Future, and David Kennedy, head of the RAT program.
At 10am, Tom Schorgl, executive director of the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC), will talk about the background of the group’s study on the economic impact of the music business of Cleveland’s economy, followed by a presentation on local music business success stories.
At 11:30am, state representative Kent Smith will deliver a keynote address about what the state is doing to provide incentives to grow music-related businesses.
After a lunch break at noon, with local musicians doing acoustic performances, the summit will reconvene at 1pm with panels on Cleveland as a music community and destination and investing in music, and wrapping with a presentation at 3:30pm by Andy Leach, director of the Rock Hall Archives, talking about preserving Cleveland’s music history. He’ll specifically talk about the archives’ preservation of the papers and artifacts of the late Plain Dealer music reporter Jane Scott.
The day will conclude will an industry networking reception at the Rock Hall Archives — just across the lobby from the Black Box Theatre — with snacks, wine and acoustic music.
Cleveland, OH 44115