3B: Re-establish Indy as a Music City
At one time Indy was a center of the music world. From the rich jazz scene along Indiana Avenue to leading manufacturers of drums and pianos, Indy has roots as a music city. The Indy Music Strategy builds on this music history and expands on Visit Indy’s MusicCrossroads initiative, which continues to position Indy as a leader in music education. Support efforts to address governance, music education, artist and industry development, performance venues, and audience development. Specific to tourism, implement its recommendations to memorialize historically significant sites and musicians, develop a paid busking scheme, and increase promotion of Indy’s local musicians, venues, and events
Value to the Community
Whether in a formal venue, on a street corner, or on the banks of the White River, music brings people together in ways that often cut across social divisions, celebrates the diversity of people, and provides an important outlet for human expression.Value to the Hospitality Industry
In 2009, Visit Indy created MusicCrossroads, a strategy that targeted our rich music history and connection to scholastic music. It’s a strategy similar in foundation to the city’s amateur sports strategy implemented in the ‘80’s. The MusicCrossroads strategy has seen great success with over one million visitors to Indy and $1 billion in direct spending. Aside from major music events that draw visitors directly, cities like Nashville, Austin, and New Orleans have demonstrated how music can define destination appeal, drawing leisure visitors seeking fun and authentic experiences.Updates
- January 2024. $250M Lilly Endowment Grant for Indiana. In Governor Holcomb's State of the State Address, he announced the largest grant in Lilly Endowment history, a $250 million to support the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI), blight reduction and redevelopment, and arts and cultural initiatives.
- January 2024. New I Made Rock ‘n’ Roll Festival. GangGang, a nonprofit cultural development firm for creatives and people of color, with Forty5 and The Vouge Theater, is planning a spring music festival highlighting Black rock music. This festival is an opportunity to give creators love and acknowledgment, an opportunity for inclusion, camaraderie to educate, and celebrate Black artists' influence on rock ‘n’ roll.
- August 2022. New Downtown Venue Proposed. As part of a $120m redevelopment of the former Jail 2 and Arrestee Processing Center, developers plan a new 60,000 square foot concert and event venue operated by The Vogue.
- May 2022. All IN Music & Arts Festival. A new annual music festival was announced for the Indiana State Fairgrounds containing a wide mix of performers.
- December 2021. WonderRoad Music Festival Launches. Producers of a music festival in Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio are launching WonderRoad, a multi-day music festival at Garfield Park.
- April 2021. Indy Music Strategy Release. The final Indy Music Strategy is a 3-year plan is backed by a data-driven methodology used to identify growth areas and implementation strategies that deliver measurable outcomes
- February 2019. Indy Music Strategy Kickoff. The Indy Music Strategy development process was launched, led by the Indy Chamber and consulting group Sound Diplomacy. The first two phases of the strategy focus on visioning, benchmarking, and music ecosystem analysis.
- May 2018. Music Cities Forum. Indianapolis hosted the first U.S.-based Music Cities Forum, a program of consulting group Sound Diplomacy, which is working on the Indy Music Strategy.
Key Partners
Confirmed Partners
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Visit Indy (Lead)
- Partnerships Under Development
Recommended Partners
Priority + Progress
Active priorities are the top 20% or so of actions that TTI is most focused on and engaged with.
TTI Role
The primary role means TTI is taking a significant leadership role in this action. This is the most-involved type of role and typically applicable when Visit Indy is leading or significantly contributing to an action implementation.
