On Saturday, March 12th, positive energy, creativity, and connections flowed during the 5th annual City of Music Career Day at EMP Museum and The Vera Project. This educational program, developed by the Seattle Music Commission and produced in partnership with One Reel, Office of Film + Music, Office of Arts & Culture, EMP Museum, and The Vera Project, provides young people ages 16 – 24 with direct access to music industry professionals through networking, experiential learning, and direct mentor opportunities.
City of Seattle Deputy Mayor Hyeok Kim set an inspirational tone with her welcome speech highlighting the importance of events like City of Music Career Day to cultivate connections and opportunities for Seattle’s next generation of creative industry leaders. Seattle Music Commissioner and Executive Director of The Vera Project, Tim Lennon, introduced the event’s keynote speakers Hollis Wong-Wear, Ludovic Morlot, and Sir Mix-a-Lot who each gave short presentations and then opened it up for audience questions.
Following the keynote address, youth in attendance engaged with a diverse array of industry experts during breakout panels. Organized around different opportunities available in the industry, the morning panel topics included ARTIST, discussing how to succeed as an artist in the ever-changing industry landscape; VENUE, sharing the ins and outs of running a venue; and MONEY, highlighting all the ways artists and musicians can have music be a lucrative career choice.
Afternoon breakout sessions covered topics ranging from FESTIVAL, which explored how to produce large- and small-scale festivals and D.I.Y., discussing the positives and negatives of working outside the framework of the commercial music industry, to COMPOSING, which covered the variety of ways musicians can make a living doing video game scoring, film scoring, and classical composition.
During lunch, youth attendees were given the chance to mix and mingle, network, and learn more about internship, career, and program opportunities available at local music-focused organizations during the Career Fair. Participating organizations included Cornish, DigiPen, Earshot Jazz Fest, KEXP, Rain City Rock Camp for Girls, Seattle Opera, Sub Pop, Totem Star, The Vera Project and many more.
The jam-packed event ended with a networking party that featured direct mentor sessions with professionals from a broad spectrum of the music industry – from producers and booking agents to veterans in management, PR, marketing, sound engineering and more, along with guided tours of KEXP’s new home. The networking event was hosted (and DJ’d) by 2015 City of Music Interns Bella Pham and Geran Landis.
Planning is already underway for City of Music Career Day 2017 – stay tuned for more info and join in the fun next year!
Image credits: Brady Harvey
