In November of 2021 the City of Victoria approved the Victoria Music Strategy to help foster the local music scene and hopefully give the city the push it needs to become a world-class music destination.
City of Victoria artist in residence Kathryn Calder—who also plays in Vancouver indie rock group The New Pornographers—says that when she applied to be involved in creating the strategy she really didn’t even know what a music strategy might be.
“I understood broadly, but I had to ask, ‘What does that mean?’” says Calder. “And really it’s sort of a guideline for the next five years and recommendations from the community about how the City of Victoria can support music in the coming years.”
Calder says that the group had roundtables and community discussions and surveys went out to musicians, businesses, and audience members. From there, they developed short- and long-term plans for supporting music in Victoria. In the end, the strategy has the perspective the team started with in 2019, but also works as a recovery plan for how to get the music scene on track after COVID.
“Of course, one of the major challenges we faced was that COVID happened right in the middle of this process,” she says, “so it changed the dynamic of what we were doing from trying to support the music ecosystem to total crisis mode as the entire global music industry shut down.”
After touring his second album, Down Low, Josef Mieto came out to Victoria for what he intended to be a two-month holiday. That was about eight years ago. Now the musician, author, and founder of Surkeus Records calls Victoria home. Mieto says that his understanding is that the Victoria Music Strategy is a commitment by the City to give artists and music organizations access to assistance, funding, and resources, with the intention of turning Victoria into one of North America’s premier arts and music destinations.
“I think Victoria can be on par with Austin and Nashville and even New York,” says Mieto. “The talent is here. There are just a lot of gaps in the market and a lot of things that artists need in place to make a living here. I think that the City has recognized those gaps and they’re committed to addressing them.”
Calder says that local musicians should see immediate results in the first year, following approval from city council.
“There is $75,000 coming for cultural programming like concerts and things,” she says, “There’s going to be an annual music symposium, and I don’t know that they’ve really hammered this out, but I think the idea is capacity building for musicians.”
Calder says that there are so many other aspects to being a musician beyond being good with your instrument and being a great performer.
“There are so many other things one needs to know about having a career in music, and Victoria is very expensive and it’s tricky to find places to play these days,” she says. “We are trying to find creative ways to have spaces and venues for people to play in, and there are ideas for performance hubs.”
Mieto says that the release of the Victoria Music Strategy was serendipitous, as he’s been trying to work toward securing funding for a multi-use creative studio and performance space where artists can develop and showcase projects.
“The Victoria Music Strategy clearly states that there are gaps in the market here in Victoria, especially in the 100-to-200 person capacity range for performance spaces, and that is exactly what we’ve been thinking about doing,” says Mieto. “We would like to give the music community a place to create, to showcase and perform, along with retail and gathering space. Under one roof we would have all of the elements that artists need to earn a living.”
Mieto says that his vision wouldn’t be viable without financial help.
“We need to secure funding for operational costs and equipment purchases for this to be a viable business,” says Mieto. “We could open about one third of what we’re hoping to do, but the objective is to make this a COVID-proof business. If new health regulations pass six months after we open and large gatherings aren’t possible we want to work plan B, C, and D into it, because everything is so uncertain these days. I feel like we are going through a real renaissance right now as we emerge from a dark place.”
Calder says that the music strategy is a really great start to a booming local music scene.
“It’s going to be a long process and I’m really looking forward to seeing what comes out of it,” says Calder. “This is really just the beginning. I’m hoping it will really support the development of our music community.”