“Sometimes, the most important thing you can do for your career is stop networking and just hang out.”
— COLLEEN KRUEGER, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF MUSIC CALGARY
SoundOff Summit is a three-day music conference hosted by Music Calgary that brings together artists, music industry professionals and members of Calgary’s broader music community. This event is designed to talk about the people, ideas and infrastructure shaping the city’s music scene.
Music Calgary was born after Calgary hosted the 2008 JUNO Awards, with the organization taking on important issues affecting the local music scene, including infrastructure, advocacy, education and funding. Since then, the non-profit has worked to create opportunities for artists and industry professionals, while helping build a stronger and more connected music community in the city.
Taking place at the Calgary Central Library this year, SoundOff is a ticketed event that includes performances, keynote speeches, conversations and mingling. Unlike invite-only industry conferences, it’s open to anyone interested in what Calgary’s music scene has to offer.
“We want artists to be able to fly, to build careers nationally and internationally, while knowing there is a community back home that understands what they’re doing, champions their work and gives them a place to return to,” says Colleen Krueger, Music Calgary’s managing director.
This year’s SoundOff Summit is centered around the theme “The Art of the Hang.” Something that can seem simple is often an important part of building a career in music: knowing how to walk into a room and genuinely connect with other people.
For the artists and industry professionals at SoundOff, that kind of connection is part of what keeps the scene moving. People within this scene don’t exist alone — they meet, collaborate, share audiences and create spaces for the music to happen.
“Sometimes, the most important thing you can do for your career is stop networking and just hang out,” says Krueger.
For Calgary’s music community, building connections can have a much bigger impact than many realize.
“I think that relates particularly well to Calgary, because we’re still building the connective tissue of our music ecosystem. We have incredibly talented people here, but a strong music city isn’t created by artists working in isolation,” says Krueger. “It happens when artists, venues, promoters, festivals, labels, media and audiences actually know one another, trust one another and want to build things together.”
For a conference centred around connection, the impact of these conversations in Calgary extends beyond just the three days. It gives local artists and industry professionals a chance to have conversations with people that may turn into an opportunity down the line.
SoundOff also creates an opportunity to bring people from outside the city into the conversation, offering a glimpse into what’s happening in Calgary.
“There’s real value in creating an event that brings the wider music industry into Calgary while putting local and regional artists at the centre of the experience. It puts the city, and more importantly, the people making music here, on the industry’s radar,” says Krueger. “The music industry is incredibly relationship-driven. At the end of the day, people want to work with people they actually want to spend time with.”
For a city with a music scene that spans many genres, venues and sub-cultures, getting the full picture can still be difficult from an outside view.
“There can still be a fairly narrow perception of what Calgary sounds like or what kind of music community exists here. The best way to challenge that is to invite people in and let them experience it firsthand,” says Krueger.
While bringing new people into the city can help change those perceptions, the conversations happening at SoundOff can also impact the people already building Calgary’s music community.
“Conversations at SoundOff might start with touring, showcasing, royalties, artistic development, or how to build a sustainable career or practice, but the ripple effect is much bigger,” says Krueger. “When artists have stronger support systems around them, they have more freedom to experiment, take risks and figure out what they actually want to create. That changes the shows we see, the spaces we gather in and the audiences those artists begin to attract.”
For Calgary, those ripple effects can help shape the music community into something that feels more connected and visible. SoundOff might only last three days, but the conversations that happen will stay awhile.
Keep an eye on Music Calgary’s website for updates on keynote speakers and performing artists, and get ready to join the conversation November 12 to 14 at the Calgary Central Library.
