DALLAS — Dallas recently launched its own music office to support and promote local musicians. It started with efforts to get Dallas designated a music-friendly community by the Texas Music Office . Dallas got the designation in 2021.
The Dallas Music Office , an extension of Visit Dallas and the Texas Music Office, will serve as a hub for artists, venues, and music enthusiasts for education, collaboration and growth of the Dallas music scene. Dallas’ music office is run by Kristina Kirkenaer-Hart, the director of cultural tourism for Visit Dallas, and Jonathan McNary, who worked as a producer and partner at Creatives Factory, a Dallas-based artist development company and recording label. “I’m really excited.
I feel like it’s been a long time coming,” said Kirkenaer-Hart, Director of Cultural Tourism and the Dallas Music Office. “We have a massive amount of talent and in any genre you can possibly come up with, but the downside is that very few people know it unless you’re within the scene and efforts are siloed, so people are reinventing the wheel left and right and there’s no aggregate space for information, education, collaboration -- that’s what we want to do.” “That’s my biggest goal is for [artists] to feel supported and use us a resource," she added.
She said in the short term, the Dallas Music Office has been focused on building local partnerships including with KXT radio, Dallas Love Field to support featuring local musicians on the Love Fie.
