The Chattanooga Tourism Co. will launch a census this fall of people involved with the local music industry to take stock of where the city is and where it might want to go in the coming years.
The census is being done in partnership with the city of Chattanooga and ArtsBuild and is funded through the Lyndhurst Foundation. It's hoped it will capture key information about the local music economy and help the city and community make more informed, data-driven decisions to support the music ecosystem.
(READ MORE: Relocated Moon River show in Chattanooga a 'once-in-a-lifetime' series of events)
Musicians, venue owners, journalists, engineers, studio owners, nightclub owners, high school band directors, high school band members 18 and older, music teachers and music nonprofits are being targeted for the survey.
Donna Elle Harrison, director of cultural tourism and inclusive marketing with the tourism agency, told a group of people connected to music venues on Tuesday at Songbirds that the goal is to reach anybody who might have an opinion.
"We want not only racial diversity, but age diversity," Harrison said.
She said too often it feels like people of a certain age or status in life are making decisions for young people about shows or artists who might be booked here and sometimes nonmusicians in positions of authority or decision-making are deciding things for actual musicians.
"We want to hear from everybody," she said.
"Chattanooga is a deeply musical city, but too often we don't think of ourselves that way," Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly said in a news release.
(READ MORE: Chattanooga setting has joined music as star attractions for Moon River Festival)
"As mayor and lifelong music hobbyist myself, I want to see our creative economy expand, but for that to happen, it's crucial to understand the human dimensions of our musical assets, so I encourage all Chattanoogans involved in music to complete this survey."
"Music is a vital component of our culture, heritage and arts initiatives at Chattanooga Tourism Co. The Chattanooga Music Census will help support our local musicians and the music community. This, in return, will benefit venues, restaurants, festivals and our entire community," said Barry White, CEO and president of Chattanooga Tourism Co. "The survey results will give us a clear understanding of the need to cultivate equitable growth in music within our community."
The census will be administered by Sound Music Cities, a leading provider of music ecosystem studies and music census work.
(READ MORE: Retooled Riverbend was a hit with fans, avoided trouble)
The survey should be completed by all those ages 18 and older who work in the music industry in any capacity and live in Hamilton, Marion and Sequatchie counties in Tennessee and Catoosa, Dade and Walker counties in Georgia. Responses are requested from musicians, venue owners, music nonprofits, music business professionals, nightlife service providers, creative service providers, support service providers, music educators and beyond. The completely anonymous results will be released in early 2023.
Annually, Chattanooga hosts more than 15 million visitors who spend $1.5 billion a year in the community, the tourism agency estimates. On an average day, that's roughly 40,000 visitors in town, of whom 15,000 stay the night in local hotels and spend $4.1 million per day on entertainment, shopping, dining and more. In addition to directly supporting local businesses, visitors are temporary taxpayers who save every Hamilton County household $828 per year in taxes, the agency estimates.
Learn more about the Chattanooga Music Census and register for an information session at ChattanoogaMusicCensus.org.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com