Make Music Madison
Mary Sweeney
(2018 pick) You’d have to try hard to not encounter something surprising at this citywide celebration of music involving 300 performances at 100 locations. If you are so inclined, there are plenty of opportunities to get involved. The first 100 people to get to the Madison Children’s Museum at noon get a free harmonica for a lesson and group performance. Jarius King is doing a breakdancing workshop at 1:30 pm at Alumni Park, and the park will have a public piano out from 11 am-4 pm. Multiple jams are taking place at city parks, and a giant celebration of brass and drums is planned at Breese Stevens Field starting at 5 pm, topped off with a full dress rehearsal with the award-winning Madison Scouts Drum & Bugle Corps. Grab the insert from last week’s Isthmus or find the schedule at makemusicmadison.org. Get out there!
press release: Make Music Madison returns for its 7th year, joining over 1,000 cities across the planet for Make Music Day. Held annually on the summer solstice, June 21st, the event will attract hundreds of millions of musicians and music lovers in 120 countries. A city-sponsored event, Make Music Madison presents hundreds of free outdoor performances at locations across town from block parties to businesses, libraries to parks, and gardens to garages. The celebration welcomes and showcases musicians of all genres and ages.
“It’s a totally unique way to enjoy the city with music happening all around you,” said managing director, Natasha Sattin. “Music lovers can travel from location to location and experience Madison in a whole new way, or they can stay in a neighborhood to enjoy a local line-up.” A full schedule of events and maps will be published in the Thursday, June 13th issue of the Isthmus and posted at www.makemusicmadison.org.
Make Music Madison has turned out some of the highest levels of participation in the United States though its seven years hosting this celebration. Averaging 300 concerts at 100 venues annually, Sattin attributes this success to the strong city support that helped establish event as a citywide celebration at the outset in 2013. Likewise Make Music Day continues to grow across Wisconsin with 2019 newcomers Make Music Appleton and Make Music Land O’ Lakes joining returning cities Milwaukee, Reedsburg, and Platteville. In recent years, cities across the country have launched their own Make Music celebrations. On June 21, 2018, 78 North American cities organized almost 5,000 free concerts at over 1,500 locations, all on the summer solstice.
Make Music Day began in France in 1982 as the Fête de la Musique, and has spread to become an international DIY musical phenomenon. “It’s such a mainstay of French culture that around two-thirds of the population participates,” Sattin shared. Italy adopted the idea in 1985, and today tens of millions enjoy the nation-wide celebration known as Festa della Musica. China joined on in 2017 with Make Music China, and participation in their event rapidly soared to over 160,000 performers in 150 Chinese cities in 2018.
Registration for musicians and venues is now open for the June 21st festival and will close on May 7. Organizers welcome musicians of any genre, amateur or professional, young or old, to take part by signing up at www.makemusicmadison.org. Likewise, Madison businesses, neighborhood organizations, residents, schools, places of worship, and other institutions can visit the website to offer their outdoor space as a venue. “This is DIY, and you can create whatever you like. A venue can be as simple as a sidewalk space welcoming acoustic musicians, or as elaborate as a sponsored stage with professional sound tech, or it can be anything in between.” said Sattin. An online matchmaking system helps connect musicians with venues to book shows.
As a city-sponsored event, Make Music Madison is actively carrying out recommendations from Madison’s Task Force on Equity in Music and Entertainment report which was approved by the city council earlier this year. Sattin stated, “We’re working on multiple fronts to connect with a diversity of musicians. Make Music Madison has been an opportunity for performers to reach new audiences, and we want to be sure any musician has a chance to share their talent. Between 40-50% of performers surveyed said that taking part in this musical celebration has led to more opportunities.”
Make Music Madison is also working with the city to reach artists and organizers in neighborhoods that have seen lower levels of participation. “It’s our hope that we’ll be able to build positive long-term relationships with diverse communities across town. We already have so many established Make Music events in neighborhoods where organizers come back to host year after year. They enjoy the event as a celebration of community pride and togetherness. We’re trying to build that type of consistency in other areas as well. There is always room to make things better.”
Make Music Madison 2019 is sponsored by the Madison Arts Commission along with Dane Arts, Digital 206 - La Voz de America Latina desde Wisconsin, Isthmus, and WORT Community Radio.
