SACRAMENTO, California — The Sacramento music scene needs to be retuned, according to a new survey commissioned by the city.
Hosting the first in a week-long State of the City discussions, Mayor Darrell Steinberg said the city either needs to "keep up, or get left behind" by embracing a list of changes.
Alicia Huff, singer of the Sacramento based "the band Hayes" who performed at the State of the City event at a vacant property on 7th and K streets, says the little guys need some more attention.
"It could be better, but it could also be worse," she said. "There are a lot of amazing musicians out here with all types of expertise that the world deserves to hear."
The mayor proposes streamlining permitting for special events, making it cheaper and putting the process online, among other reforms — ideas sure to strike a chord with the Sacramento music scene.
"If we are going to be a city that encourages and nurtures a creative economy and insists on genuine equity, we need our regulatory environment to reflect that," said Steinberg. "Our community is loaded with talent, who just need a stage and some way to get paid."
Among the findings in the Sacramento City Music Census, a survey of nearly 1,400 online respondents, researchers found 86% of musicians in Sacramento report four or fewer opportunities a month to play in front of a crowd.
"Sacramento's music ecosystem's racial diversity doesn't reflect the general population: it's more white and less representative of every other race and ethnicity category," the survey found.
The survey also suggests there aren't enough venues that can host local artists and the city lacks venues with capacity between 100 to 500 people.
