City of College Station Blog

Grace Hallowell

What’s Up College Station? I’m Grace Hallowell, and today I’m joined with Casey Barone from Visit College Station. She’s our events coordinator over there. Hi, Casey.

Casey Barone:

Hi, Grace.

Grace Hallowell:

I am excited you’re here. We’re going to talk about music today and we just recently received some recognition or Visit College Station received kind of an important recognition from the state.

Casey Barone:

Yes. So back in November, the city of College Station became a Texas music certified community. And so what that is it just shows that we’re invested in our local music and what that means for our economic development part and we’re really excited to be part of this group.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes, there are some great local acts, some venues in town, specifically College Station is a great hub for musicians.

Casey Barone:

Yes. So what we’re really doing is we have an advisory committee, part of our Texas Music Friendly, that’s what we needed to do as one of the criteria is to become a certified city. And so this advisory committee kind of helps the city and guides us where we need to go and how can we support our local artists. Yeah, it’s great that we have Hurricane Harry’s and we get these larger acts, but what can we do for our local artists?

Grace Hallowell:

That’s right. And there are some events coming up that go along with this certification.

Casey Barone:

So one of the things we want to talk about is our Hangout and Tune In, and this is something that we started doing during our process of becoming a certified city and it’s a monthly gathering that we have for our musicians. And of course we invite the community to come out, to anybody who is interested in music per se. And so it’s every third Tuesday of the month and we change the locations, but they’re from 6:00 to 8:00 and it’s just a really great way to get these musicians all together in one room, kind of support one another, listen to one another, and it’s been a lot of fun. And so we want the community to know about these that happen every month.

Grace Hallowell:

Right, yes. It sounds like a fun opportunity. Is there live music being played at these events or is it more of a networking event?

Casey Barone:

So the first part is more of a networking, so it’s from 6:00 to 8:00 and that first hour is they come, they arrive, they can order what they want. Also, what we’re doing is helping those venues on a Tuesday night when they don’t get a whole lot of traction.

Grace Hallowell:

Right, slow nights.

Casey Barone:

Yes. So for the first 30 minutes they arrive, they mingle network with one another, and then the next 30 minutes we try to do an educational component for the musicians. So maybe they need to know about songwriting or networking, marketing, the importance of radio interviews and so on and so on. So I usually try to get somebody to come in for those and volunteer their time and give their knowledge of something.

Casey Barone:

Then that last hour, it’s really fun. We do an open mic hour. Those musicians that show up, they have an opportunity to play up to two songs for that last hour. And that has been really fun to see some of their talents shine through. They play originals, they play covers, may play the banjo. I have one guy that just comes and just rocks on his guitar. So it’s been really fun to see and witness and see their talent. And then it also helps the venues, those managers or book those that book these musicians get to see them maybe that they didn’t know about and they’re like, “Hey, I want to book them for an event.” And it’s happened.

Grace Hallowell:

So this sounds like a lot. Is there a charge? Is there a fee? Do you need to register?

Casey Barone:

No, it’s a free event. We always put it out on our Facebook page for you to see when the next one is coming up, the date and the location. So this next one is in February. It’s February 20th, it’s going to be at The Tap and it’s a free event for anybody to come, whether you want to meet musicians or you just want to hear the local talent.

Grace Hallowell:

Well, that’s a perfect way it sounds like to just kind of relax and it’s like a no pressure thing. I know stepping on stage, especially if you’re a new musician, can sometimes be intimidating, but this feels very relaxed and open environment to create and collaborate.

Casey Barone:

Yes, and that’s what we’re trying to offer and we just started this in July, so not a whole lot of people know about it. And we really want to get the word out and have people know that hey, there’s a place to go that you can just network with people and showcase your talent.

Grace Hallowell:

Well, if people want to learn more about this or the music certification, where can they go?

Casey Barone:

They can always email me Cbarone. B-A-R-O-N-E at Cstx.gov. They can follow our social media pages, Visit College Station where we post a lot of what’s going on. And then once you go to one of these events, you sign in and you get emails from me saying, “Hey, the next one is here.” And it’s a flyer and that sort of thing. When you show up at one, I tell you where the next one’s going to be so you can kind of prepare.

Grace Hallowell:

Well, thank you so much for joining me today.

Casey Barone:

Thank you, Grace.

Grace Hallowell:

And that’s what’s up.

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