The board was established once McKinney became the 11th Texas city to receive a Music Friendly Community designation from the Texas Music Office, which comes from the governor’s office, in May.
The designation provides a network to Texas communities to foster and attract music industry development, according to the governor’s website.
“The music industry has been growing fearlessly here in McKinney for many years,” Visit McKinney Executive Director Dee-dee Guerra said during a May City Council meeting.
The first step toward obtaining the designation began in January, Visit McKinney Communications Manager Beth Shumate said at a community workshop made up of local musicians, music teachers, recording studios and venue owners.
The city then created a seven-member advisory board made up of people from McKinney’s music industry, Shumate said. A local music office housed out of Visit McKinney was also created, which will serve as a liaison between the Texas Music Office and the board.
Shumate said next steps involve a local music industry economic impact study, but the study may be negatively impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We don’t really know what the economic impact is going to be when all this falls out,” Shumate said, “because there are so many musicians where that is their whole livelihood. As everything opens back up, the more positive impact we’ll see.”
While the pandemic could hinder McKinney’s music scene, Schumate said the advisory board had its first meeting and is looking into projects with local musicians to start live music back up again in the city.
The designation from the state gives McKinney greater credentials, Shumate said, which could attract more musicians and music events.
“We hope to be able to use this designation to bring bigger things here,” she said. “We certainly hope that this will bring the possibility of more music festivals because we will be now on the Texas Music Office website.”
McKinney is now included in the Texas Music Office’s directory, which includes over 15,000 state music businesses used to foster economic development of music businesses and musicians.
While Visit McKinney does not host events, Shumate said the convention and visitors bureau will support them. Visit McKinney can be a starting point for event planners now that the city has the designation, she said.
“We have promotional grants that are available for groups setting up any kind of event,” Shumate said. “Music festivals would definitely fall within our guidelines.”
