Spokane All Ages Music Initiative
October 22, 2008 
15 Comments
Spearheaded by some forward thinking employees at GSI, the mission of SAAMI is to “create and epicenter for music, education, production, and consumption run by and for people of all ages. This initiative will seek to effect dynamic economic development and community transformation by incubating our existing creative culture and by attracting young people from outside our region.”
They identify four major incentive areas for this effort:
- ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
- TOURISM
- RETENTION/ATTRACTION
- WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
To date, a series of stakeholder meetings and public presentations have been well attended, despite being held at the SRBC in the middle of the day. The most recent planning session formed several volunteer committees to focus on the emerging goals and structure of the effort.
Some initial questions of this much needed push: Does the origin of the effort signal that we have a highly innovative EDC, a somewhat sleepy music scene, neither or both? What is the best way for a traditional economic development firm to motivate and engage a broad variety of grassroots volunteers? How does an all-ages music initiative fit into a broader strategy to strengthen the creative potential of the Inland Northwest?
At the very least the conveners of SAAMI have done their homework, pointing to such tantalizing models as:
- The VERA Project – Seattle, WA
- The Department of Safety – Anacortes, WA
- The Old Firehouse – Redmond, WA
- All Ages Movement Project
About the Author
Uhhhh I noticed a new all ages venue near the arena http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=408342488
That is turning out a ton of shows. . .
For some reason I don’t see the chamber of commerce jumping on it. . .despite the fact i think it’s a great location near NC high school for the local kids. I think they are also doing screenings of old horror and gore movies
I guess to be really critical of the GSI’s efforts without any more knowledge than is in your post: Why would they be looking at this for economic development, workforce development, etc, etc, rather than it’s primary focus of as a arts/music/culture center and as a place for kids to stay out of trouble?
Or am I missing the whole thing?
Myself and my white hetero male friends, ages 21-36 (prime spending demographic) avoid all ages venues because if we wanted to hang out with kids we would get fake id’s and go back to highschool! Even rock coffee got creepy after a short time.
The author of this supercool blog definitely gets this, but I wanted to respond to Max’s comment. To paraphrase: Why should the GSI care about all ages music?
Because our economy doesn’t grow when young people leave town and never ever want to return. And what more to leave a bitter taste in a poor high school kid’s mouth about the’Can than a shriveled, depressing, lack of an All Ages music scene.
1. Economic Development- new venues create tax revenues for the city. The create foot traffic that can feed into coffee shops and jobs that can give people money to spend at said coffee shops. et cetera.
2. Tourism – While it seems bizzare for me to envision somebody traveling to Spokane for the purpose of “Tourism” there is a draw from the greater inland northwest to come here and spend time/money when there is a vibrant youth culture. Oh the day when the Seattle kids pile in the car and come to Spokane because we are just that cool…
3. Retention/Attraction – I grew up in Spokane. I left Spokane as soon as I possible could. I only moved back 2 months ago after 7 years away because Spokane is a better place to raise a kid than Seattle or LA. I did so begrudgingly, dreading a consevervative, anti-organic, big-box retail wasteland. I have been pleasantly reminded that Spokane is a pretty damn decent place to live after all. Anyhow, having a thriving creative class in Spokane would help nurture entrepenutres, and encourage people to actually WANT to move here vs dread it like me.
4. Workforce development- I guess a little redundant on my part, but activity creates jobs, and especially jobs that somebody would like to keep. Furthermore it encourages an influx of skills to flow into the area. Case in point, the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle has historically been a bastion of free thinking and youth culture. In the past 5-8 years is has been also now home to tons of great web 2.0 companies large and small, and has a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem, such that the New York Times called it “The Silicon Canal”. How I would love for Spokane to be so inviting to brilliant creative types. If we could only round up our more judgmental citizenry and sequester to some small corner of our otherwise fair city.
Mariah- Thank you for posting this! It’s been good to see the discussion and interest generated around this post.
Max- Let me first declare that I write this as an employee of GSI who is working on this initiative.
The Cretin Hop is a great venue that happens to cater mostly to certain genres. While in the initial stages of this initiative I believe it would be a great idea to collaborate with venues like The Cretin Hop, I believe SAAMI’s ultimate goal would be to have our own dedicated venue and one that has the capacity (physically & resource-wise) to integrate a wider breadth of music and activity.
GSI is looking at this initiative from several perspectives:
1. Music has an intrinsic value that Spokane’s community can/does enjoy and benefit from.
2. While the above major areas of incentive are primary “focuses,” the foundation that makes these incentives work is that cultural vibrancy, relevance and substance is something that will benefit Spokane’s youth and Spokane as a whole. GSI recognizes this as an integral aspect of this initiative.
3. As GSI is Spokane’s chamber of commerce and economic development council integrated, It’s easy to write-off GSI’s (and SAAMI’s) efforts as some superficial goal towards economic development, but the point is that economic development, and the things you list (an arts/music/cultural center and a safe place for kids) are not ideas that are mutually exclusive.
I hope this clarifies the ideas behind SAAMI a little more and please feel free to contact me if you’d like to engage in further discussion about this. Thanks!
- Vi
Link to All Ages Movement Project:
http://www.allagesmovementproject.org
An amazing resource.
fyi – Experience Music Project is looking for underage bands for Soundoff! 2009 Battle of Underage Bands
It would be great to get our kids out to that!
http://www.empsfm.org/programs/index.asp?categoryID=27
I like the idea, but it is a little bit unclear to me as far as funding. I REALLY like the idea of music scholarships for recording. I don’t know much, or anything about recording studios in Spokane, but if that is what is being talked about, I’m all for it.
I think SAAMI should have its own venue as well. perhaps downtown, if there is a space for cheap. It could also work as a sort of business headquarters, if needed. SAAMI sponsored events could take a cut of profits from which ever venue, and use to create its own. Just an idea, but i know the Vera Project has at least 1 of its own venues that i know of in the Seattle center.
On a side note, I think intentionally calling attention to the fact that its an organization that works exclusively with all ages stuff sort of makes people under 21, like myself irritated. Its like the kids table at thanksgiving. no one really wants to go, but its the best you can do. I think it would also discourage people over 21 from going as well. I mean, I can easily see someone thinking “Why would i want to go see a bunch of shitty high school bands” because the term “all ages venue.”
Personally, If i ran SAAMI, i would do it exactly as they are saying, but just cut out the all ages bit from the name. It would still be to promote all ages stuff, but just not call attention to it.
P.S. Another reason why i don’t see the need to use “all ages” is because 21+ shows always say that they are 21+ plus somewhere on the flier. And if its an alcohol thing, the empyrean serves booze and its an all ages venue. granted they do have the liquor control board up their case all the time, but still.
More bureaucracy is exactly what the music scene does NOT need. It doesn’t need a board or a committee. It just needs a few people to stop being lazy and DO SOMETHING.
My friend Mikhael and I have done just that. http://www.myspace.com/spokanediy
In the matter of 2 1/2 weeks, we’ve already got all ages concerts featuring independent out-of-town artists for the next 8 months. We don’t even see each other often. Just the occasional text message or e-mail.
I’ve been told by nearly every venue owner and band member in town that our music scene just needs about a hundred people more like me (being me is nothing special, or unique. I just don’t have friends, or a social life, so I book shows instead).
I book shows to give myself something to do, and to give others something to do. That’s how Spokane’s all ages scene was started over 15 years ago.
But yeah, tackling issues like the sprinklers is good. That’s such a BS cop-out for the regulators to try and stop the entertainment here. Honestly, what does this town think is going to happen if they take the all ages music scene away? Kids will become even more bored and get into crime and drugs and garbage like that – precisely what they are always so worried about happening in the first place.
So I just saw a “first-draft” of the proposed SAAMI and it seems that it will be primarily concerned with enhancing funding to venues that participate in all-ages shows and individuals who participate in the all-ages scene (read: audience members of all-ages shows)
It doesn’t mention the goal of establishing an exclusively SAAMI-funded venue or any concrete community-building activities (such as music related classes for young people, recording facilities or screen-printing facilities).
While additional funding going to all-ages venues (such as the Empyrean, the Cretin Hop, and the Caterina) is definitely a positive thing I think the SAAMI proposal falls short of offering Spokane the boost it needs to revolutionize the all-ages music scene. I believe this can only be done with an inclusive “spot” that houses a venue by night and art space/screen printing/class space by day. Additionally, a recording studio by day would be nice, but probably out of the initial scope of the SAAMI.
The aspect of the SAAMI proposal regarding personal applications for music-related funding also falls short. The proposal mentions that individuals would be able to use SAAMI funded money to “take music classes or buy studio time” with the suggestion of College Road. This is laughable, as most people within the Spokane music scene are well aware that College Road is one of the worst studios in town. They exploit those that are new to music with ridiculous prices and put out terrible recordings. This suggestion, to me, is evident of a larger problem that the SAAMI draft suggests – that the writers are out of touch with the all-ages music scene.
Overall, it seems like the SAAMI draft is aiming way too low. I still think it would be beneficial as it is proposed now, but I want to see so much more out of it.
Shane
I am intrigued by the concept set forth for the SAAMI project. In light of the fact that the mission of Holy Names Music Center is precisely to provide music instruction and performance opportunities to all persons regardless of age, etc.
I believe that this initiative could easily tap resources that are available, viable and to greater or lesser degrees under-utilized within our community. It would be excellent to see this initiative provide a long range set of musical opportunities for youth and young adults which could embrace more than a narrow spectrum of the available musical genre’s. This kind of enterpranuerial creation of opportunity is why musical organizations and institutions exist in our community. With the creative use of mentorships this could be an opportunity to really bring many of the existing and emerging organizations together in common purpose.
I understand that at both ends of the spectrum there can potentially be a feeling that what exists or may be developed are uninteresting or a threat to ‘creativity’. The reality is that there is enough room to create a something or some things for everyone.
Best of luck on the project. If, I or we, can be of help, please let me know.
I received an email from Dale Strom of Rawk, the group that presents the RAWK Final Four. I feel it is terribly important to share this with as many as possible.
A quick summary:
Proposed City Ordinance
Venues would need to purchase $ 1 million in insurance
Minimum attendance age limit of at least 16 years old.
Would be easier for venue to lose their license (no more venue)
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Original messages:
Spokane City Councilman Bob Apple gave me a copy this afternoon of a proposed City ordinance, brought forward by Police Licensing Officer Max Hewitt and City Attorney Tim Szamblen, which could be on the Spokane City Council agenda within a couple of weeks. Bob was able to get Council President Joe Shogan to keep it off the agenda for this coming Monday.
The proposed ordinance makes many changes to the cabaret license law, including creating a new term of “all ages clubs” – or some such term – I gave the copies I had to the Inlander and to Rhea at the Empyrean to share with various folks there. Among the obvious major changes, it would require insurance to be purchased by the cabaret license holder of $1 million naming the City as co-insured, and sets a minimum attendance age limit of 16 years old, requiring identification checks for all people entering. It would also require all license holders to sign a “Good Neighbor Agreement” – much as we did this summer. As you might know, this mechanism gives the Police Licensing Officer more independent discretion, and reduces the process needed to yank a license. “You can’t gather here anymore.”
Luke Baumgarten intends to call Max Hewitt and Councilman Apple, to inquire about the purposes behind the ordinance. Bob said that an e-mail he received about it referred to the recent closure of (we are guessing) The Cretin Hop due to a liquor law violation (apparently allowing the public to enter a banquet permit event – but I don’t know the details). How that translates into these proposed changes is inconceivable.
Bob Apple has asked for a copy of the proposed ordinance as a PDF, so it can be distributed easily, but has yet to receive that. I’ll forward widely once I have it.
I have to assume that the Mayor would not support this language – her son would be unable to attend our shows for the next 3 plus years – but time will tell. A veto could be overridden with 5 Council votes, but Bob doesn’t think that any Council members asked for this proposal to be developed – it just magically appeared.
More to come…..
Dale Strom
509-998-9767
As previously posted, the city cracked down on the Cretin Hop on their banquet permit, simply because it was displayed on their MySpace page. How much must our city council hate the all ages music scene if they’re checking up on venue’s MySpace pages looking for a reason to cite venues??
If this bill were to pass, you can bet most, if not all, local non-bar venues will end up closing down, as few if any could possibly afford that much insurance.
As well, making all ages shows non-existent by requiring you be 16?? I started attending shows when I was 13 (literally, my 13th birthday I ended up going to my first local show). The city says the youth here gets into trouble with drugs & violence because the lack of things to do….well what do they really think is going to happen if you don’t allow them to go see their friends high school band play? I could understand maybe not wanting kids under 10 or something, but really, 16??
I hope this frustrates some of you as much as it does me. I’m growing increasingly tired of this cities disregard towards our youth and music culture. This is why so many artists move off to Seattle & Portland…those cities actually support their culture scenes.
Thoughts?
I am reading the word “education” in the mission statement above, but I am not seeing any elaboration on this point. I would like to hear about this part of the mission.
Superb blog you have here but I was curious if you knew of any message boards that cover the same topics discussed here? I’d really like to be a part of community where I can get suggestions from other experienced people that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Thanks!