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The numbers didn’t add up for Graham Henderson.
Toronto had four million people and a music economy of $500 million a year.
Austin, Texas had a fifth of the people, 800,000, and three times the music economy, $1.5 billion a year.
As president of Music Canada at the time, Henderson set out to figure out the math and make Toronto make more music money.
Today, live music venues in Toronto alone generate a total economic impact of $850 million annually, according to the city’s music office. As well, there are 75 record labels, 85 known recording studios, more than 60 publishing, licensing and distribution companies, and more than 80 artist management, booking, or publicity firms in the city.
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Now the CEO of the London Chamber of Commerce, Henderson has a vision and a blueprint to make London another Austin of the north.
“The story of Austin is, to me, a very London story. London today looks like Austin looked like in 1992, with all these parking lots sitting around, problems in the core,” he says during a recent interview at the Covent Garden Market.
London has an edge Austin doesn’t, a UNESCO city of music designation, he notes. “We’re a city of music, a city of culture, and it’s not being leveraged.”
Leveraging music and culture can draw tech companies and tourists and artists, ease downtown’s problems, add jobs and money to the city, and improve the quality of life for everyone, he says.
As city council prepares a new downtown master plan and an election looms next year, Henderson is encouraging Londoners to think about and push for a true music city.
The London Free Press spoke to Henderson as part of its ongoing series on what can make London thrive in a world tossed into turmoil by a U.S. trade war.
As an entertainment lawyer, he represented several of the bands that made the Toronto music scene in the 1980s and 1990s – the Cowboy Junkies, Pursuit of Happiness, Alannah Myles, Henderson says. But by 2010, he could see the Toronto music scene struggled “in the depths of despair” with money lost to the digital world.
“I knew from having spent time in Austin just what a city can do with music,” Henderson says.
As head of Music Canada at the time, Henderson commissioned a study comparing the music economy in Austin and Toronto, and led a trip with politicians and journalists to the Texas city in 2013.
The trip took place soon after a drug scandal embroiled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, and journalists on the trip were eager to see what he would do or say next.
“I would sit with them every night, trying to tell them, ‘Let’s talk about music.”
Upon the return to Toronto, a reporter asked Ford, in a somewhat cynical way, what he learned from the trip to Austin, Henderson says.
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Well, Ford replied, I learned you have to brand and brag, Henderson recalls. “I remember sitting behind him thinking, if that’s all you took, that’s not . . . a bad thing.”
After the trip, Toronto funded a music office, music staff, a music strategy and music advisory council. Toronto had the advantage of, well, being Toronto – Canada’s largest city.
London has advantages as well, Henderson says.
Not the least of which is designation as a UNESCO City of Music, the only one in Canada and part of a club that includes Liverpool, Havana, Santo Domingo, and Belfast – 75 across the globe.
“It is a club that cities around the world kill to get into,” Henderson says.
Key to gaining membership was the commitment in London to graduating music industry supporters and its many festivals, he says.
“It was a brilliant proposal that emphasized the aspirations, because UNESCO doesn’t just want successes that are already baked. They love aspirational cities.”
But aspirations alone can’t keep that UNESCO membership forever and the city should do much more to truly become a music city, Henderson says.
Modelling London – a city that only recently allowed live music on patios – after Austin is ambitious.
The Texas city’s South by Southwest festival in the spring, the Austin City Limits television show and fall festival it inspired, and its commitment to yearlong music has earned Austin the title of the Live Music Capital of the World.
Austin doesn’t just hold music events, it “brands and brags.”
The city’s chamber of commerce president told him on the 2013 tour there isn’t a pitch the city makes to a university student or convention or business leader that doesn’t involve music, Henderson says.
When one of the city’s music ambassadors travels to a national association looking for a convention site, he or she brings a music menu and determines what bands will play where to fit the members’ desires, Henderson says.
Every city in the U.S. wanted to be home to the Formula One race. Those cities had beautiful waterfronts and other attributes, but they didn’t have a place for 150,000 people to go and do something after the race, they didn’t have live music, he notes.
Henderson and his team interviewed the heads of the tech companies in Austin.
“When we asked them, ‘Why are you here?,’ every single one said that employs young people: Young people want to do something at night. They want to have fun,” Henderson says.
London needs an infusion of political will to become a music city, Henderson says.
Although culture is part of the city’s strategic plan, council’s multi-year budget doesn’t support culture enough and red tape still hampers efforts to open up the city to music, he says.
London has music, film, culture and tourism offices reporting to different city departments and corporations.
“They need to be in one place with a senior director who reports to the economic development department. Because they are all economic development. They’re not just nice to haves, not just frills,” Henderson says.
Licensing Dundas Place when it’s closed for events, hiring more local musicians for city affairs, adding small, medium and large venues, updating the city’s music strategy – Henderson has plenty of ideas for local change.
He’s posted many on his LinkedIn page and the Chamber of Commerce will be posting a report on its website soon detailing the benefits of and measures needed to support London being a better music and culture city.
Henderson said he’d love to see London’s thinkers, including those who have participated in The Free Press series, back the push to make London a culture and music city.
“Other cities are taking their UNESCO designation and leaning in on it for branding, development, funding from governments, changing bylaws, and getting tens of millions of dollars in redeveloping vacant spaces,” he says.
“We’re part of an international network of 300 culture cities. Why are we not going to the province and federal government and saying we have a prestigious designation, we need support?”
In the short term, Londoners can change the city by getting involved in the downtown master plan and pushing for more help for culture, Henderson says.
The city is seeking advice from residents on the plan right here.
“If we get 5,000 people to sign up to the plan and comment and say three things, ‘I’m a Londoner, I pay taxes, spend money on culture,’ politicians cannot ignore that.” Henderson says.
In the long term, residents need to vote in council members who will support making the city better by banking on music and culture, he says.
“We need to get the citizens to speak their minds, because I know if we ask most people, they’re going to say, ‘I think being a music city is great.’”
Ever since Ewald Bierbaum arrived in London from Germany in 1952, the Bierbaum family has been putting its mark on the city.
The first two generations can count Cherryhill Village, Meadowbrook Business Park, the Talbot Centre and Dufferin Corporate Centre and downtown towers.
The third generation has downtown towers to finish, but is also tackling the family’s biggest project.
A set of Bierbaum boys, aged 28 to 32, is running Old Oak Properties and building a 7,500-home neighbourhood called Legacy Village on the grounds of the former psychiatric hospital in east London. It would be London’s biggest single development.
As part of its ongoing series on how London can become a better, more thriving city, The London Free Press caught up recently with Old Oak CEO Robert Bierbaum, who is developing the east-end site and downtown sites with brothers Michael and Steven.
Q: What prompted the family to take on such massive project in east London?
A: “Our family is used to making big splashes in London, and so why not try again? The site itself, a lot of it is a blank canvas, and I think that was a big part of the excitement. It’s challenging to truly map out what 30 years looks like.”
Q: What’s the neighbourhood reaction to your plans been?
A: “Predominantly good. It’s an area where there’s a lot of value to be had. It’s one of the oldest parts of our city and investment in the last few decades hasn’t been there in the same way it has in other parts of the city.”
Q: Do you and your brothers ever stop and think, what the heck are we doing?
A: “There are times when we do think, wow. We constantly are reminding ourselves about the scale. We don’t ever want to take that lightly, because the impact it will have is going to be substantial. We really want to make sure we do it right.”
Q: Your family culture is one of ambition. Did you find the same about the culture of London, growing up here?
A: “I love London, and it’s sometimes a bit of an interesting conversation speaking to my peer group. When people are younger, they look towards opportunity and I think there’s a bit of the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. I’m starting to see a lot of those same people starting to return to London, which is really exciting. I wave a bit of the ‘I told you so’ flag.”
Q: Is London stuck in the past or embracing the future?
A: “I think in the last few years, maybe it’s from my youth, I’ve been seeing a big opening of door, opening to new ideas, new concepts. There is tenacity and enthusiasm to continue to grow this amazing city. I think part of that is the entirety of our world has really shifted, so we have to grow.”
Q: What needs to change?
A: “There’s a bit of a an opportunity for the city to look for different ways to engage with Londoners. The more that visions can be shared the better. I’m in a very fortunate position to be able to participate in many of conversations because of our substantial developments. Most Londoners don’t have that advantage.”
Q: How do we get more Londoners involved?
A: “I’m not certain exactly what the detailed solution is. I think the best way to get there is from the public sector, encouraging dialogue on what the city needs. What is it that people are looking for investment inside of our city? What would they like to see in our city?”
Q: What does London need to thrive?
A: “What tends to come up when you look at other thriving cities are gathering points, entertainment areas, entertainment hubs. We have some of those. The public sector, nonprofit and private sector, we should continue to look for how to develop more. St. Paul’s is a pretty good example of the thinking that needs to take place (St. Paul’s Anglican church downtown is re-creating itself as a creative arts hub). How do we utilize existing resources to help and push these things forward, not just in our downtown? 100 Kellogg Place is another phenomenal example of that.”
Q: What do you think of Chamber of Commerce CEO Graham Henderson’s idea to make London a music city like Austin, Texas?
A: “I’ve had a few conversations with Graham, and I think that type of thinking is exactly what we need from all of the different sectors. It can’t just be one person leading that charge. It can’t just be the private sector leading that charge, and it can’t just be public sector. Everybody needs to come together.”
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