Its official -- Toronto and Austin, homes of the
NXNE and
SXSW music festivals respectively, are officially in a music city partnership.
This past Friday Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and Austin Mayor Leffingwell signed the alliance agreement at Austin's City Hall.
Mayor Ford and a team of Toronto delegates--including City of Toronto councillors and members of Toronto's music community--were in Austin as part of a music business mission to solidify the terms of the Toronto-Austin partnership.
The agreement was the culmination of a campaign by music coalition
4479 Toronto, to connect the two cities as part of 4479's avowed goal "to position Toronto as one of the greatest music cities in the world."
4479 (the numbers refer to city's longitude and latitude points) was launched this past June during Toronto's annual North by North East (NXNE) music festival (see
Yonge Street feature on the coalition
here). A coalition led by Music Canada--and made up of members from the music industry, tourism, municipal government and business--4479 announced that its first mission would be to lobby politicians for the creation of an Austin-Toronto music alliance.
Just over a month later, the Toronto City Council endorsed the idea. And, this past week the deal was made official.
The agreement signed by the two Mayors reads, in part:
"The City of Austin, widely recognized as the Live Music Capital of the World, and the City of Toronto, one of the most economic and culturally diverse cities in the world, will work collaboratively to develop and expand all elements of the music industry, including but not limited to artists, venues, festivals, studios, management and promotion. Based on common goals and shared areas of interest, the two cities agree to continue to strengthen ties, and support and encourage opportunities for mutually beneficial practical exchanges in the field of music and culture."
"We have a great music scene here in Toronto," says Amy Terrill, Vice president of public affairs with Music Canada.
"We've got great venues, great acts, and great recording facilities. We have incredible talent and ton of activity. I think what we can learn from Austin is that in harnessing that activity and making a plan in support of that activity we could even double or triple it here in Toronto."
Terrill credits the alliance--the first of its kind in North America--to a 2012 Music Canada report on the lessons Toronto could learn from Austin, the broad-based support for the idea from within the Toronto music industry, and, as a result of those two things, strong support from city councilors and the Mayor's office.
Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: City of Toronto; Amy Terrill, Vice President of Public Affairs, Music Canada