Best Practices from ‘Mastering of a Music City’ Report Applied in Eau Claire, Wisconsin

Music community advocates in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, have taken the Mastering of a Music City report and used it as a roadmap in the development of their own Music City.

Earlier this month, Volume One magazine published its “Music Capital of the North – Let’s Invest” themed issue. The articles within look at how The Mastering of a Music City report can be applied to Eau Claire, and makes the case for investment and support of the city’s growing music community.

Following the advice of the report, the magazine spoke with artists in the local community and took inventory of Eau Claire’s music assets, looking at how the city’s local musicians ranked Eau Claire on several key indicators: artists and musicians, the local music scene, access to spaces and places, a receptive and engaged audience, music-related businesses, government support for music, broader city infrastructure, music education, and music history.

The article goes on to outline a case for investment in Eau Claire’s music economy by examining the benefits that a Music City can bring and then proposing 13 recommendations that would help make Eau Claire a thriving Music City.

The Mastering of a Music City is a global report that is intended as a universal roadmap that can be used to create and develop Music Cities anywhere in the world. The strategies and recommendations are flexible in order to recognize local variations in music, culture, economies, and politics. They can be applied equally to well-established Music Cities seeking to further enhance their music economies and to nascent, aspiring Music Cities. They are relevant to communities both large and small.

We are thrilled at the response that The Mastering of a Music City has generated in music communities around the world. It was always our hope that the report would inspire others to build and strengthen Music Cities in their own communities, and Eau Claire is a great example of that in practice.