HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — After yesterday's announcement of a Fall music festival, it's safe to say that Huntsville has been added to the conversation when it comes to the music scene. "We're very excited. our whole kind of goal of our music initiative is to be one of the premier U.S. music cities that people talk about," Huntsville's Music Officer Matt Mandrella shares. "Curating local talent is especially important. The music ambassador program, with us being the first city in the country that offers a tour grant program to local musicians is a big piece to help export that piece of the music ecosystem and enhance local talent. Then there's the, of course, like the venues, the VBC and the Orion putting a big spotlight on both local and touring acts that kind of help put us on the map."
Leading up to September's big event, there's a lot more see and do starting Thursday with another music announcement. "We're coming up on our Panoply announcement that happens with our press event," Cathy Turner, director of development and events with Arts Huntsville shares. "We will have over 33 performers, both music and spoken word literary, those kinds of things happening at panoply April 26 to the 28th. I am in the process of selecting our concerts in the park bands. We had 63 applications. Typically, I can eliminate about half of those because they're out of town and we only do local bands. I think I was able to eliminate three, so there's a lot of music happening in Huntsville."
June is dedicated to what all forms of music can do. "So last year we had the opportunity to partner with the city of Huntsville for our make music day events, which is a global event. it happens across 1200 over 1200 cities across the world," Katie Winn, Music Therapist with Huntsville shares. "The point of the day, it's just to bring awareness to music and what it can do. This is June 21st, which is a Friday this year, which makes it really nice. So, any musician, whether immature or professional or it doesn't matter what age, what culture, what genre of music you're into, we have opportunity to just gather throughout the community. Last year we had people perform on their porch. We had people perform at local businesses throughout the hospital."
And of course, The festival is coming in September, and the Huntsville ecosystem will also get a boost. "It is going to provide thousands of part time jobs for locals to participate. There will be vendors that are heavily source on the local level," Mandrella shares. "It's going to be a tremendous opportunity for local business and local community, both from a fan spectator aspect, but also from an economic development aspect. With the jobs increase and the opportunities in the economic and drive to small businesses."