By Ernesto Olivo, of Local 782 (member of San Antonio MAG-Net Chapter)
Putting on an event and organizing can be very rewarding. It has been, for us, and it is why we continue to do the work. Local 782 has continuously organized musicians and has hosted workshops since 2008. We advocate for musicians and how media and technology shapes their freedom to be independent artists. This year we organized Local Music Week 2012 (LMW2012), which makes it the 3rd annual one for us. It was all put together by volunteers in our community. This has probably been our highest achievement to date.
Local Music Week was created to showcase San Antonio's diverse and united music community. It is about embracing all parts of the community, from the musicians, to the venues, to the fans and everything in between. This year Local Music Week partnered and collaborated with various local earned & independent media outlets to help promote original live music to those who have yet to explore the possibilities San Antonio has to offer.
We kicked it off with a Hot Dog Social, a free, all ages concert at Hi Tones music venue, sponsored by Texas is Funny Records. Texas Public Radio gave an in-depth story about Local782 & LMW2012. KENS 5 (CBS) & FOX 29 televised live local music all week. Wonderland Mall donated their main stage for an all day acoustic show, hosted by Riff House Concerts. KRTU 91.7 (Trinity Univ.) ran PSA's and hosted live bands in their studio all week. Thank you JD for your continuous support. KSYM 90.1 (San Antonio College) hosted a local bands on campus and community organizer Kimberly Rendon, provided a voter registration drive. Studio 1400 & Good Job Texas (online radio) hosted our LMW 2012 Music & Media Mixer, while broadcasting live. In the midst of all that, local musicians booked shows all week and campaigned for LMW 2012, along with live music venues and promoters.
We have to give credit to Robert Salinas, local musician and owner of DVS Design, for the poster artwork and all the ads he had to create for print, online and digital billboards. A very special thank you goes out to the San Antonio Current, our local alt weekly for being our media sponsor. The local music blogs Puro Pinche, SA Rocks Blog & SATX Music were and are incredible contributors to our music community.
Ultimately, we feel that we have created a movement within our city to spotlight local music and would like to see all those involve in continuing their work and passion for local music all year round. The city provided us with some assistance for food and other expenses. Thank you Diego and District 1. We are honored to have received an Official Appreciation certificate from the city signed by the mayor. We will continue the work and enjoy the continuous celebration of local music in our beautiful city of San Antonio all year round.
