A visit to Tennessee has Smith looking at how Calgary can borrow from Nashville’s music-industry playbook and build stronger ties between the two cities.
Calgary has its sights set on becoming Canada’s next major music hub.
That’s the ambition Alberta Premier Danielle Smith laid out following a recent trip to Nashville, where she met with Tennessee chamber of commerce and tourism industry leaders to learn more about the growth of Music City. Smith sees Nashville as a model Calgary could follow, arguing that the foundations that helped turn the Tennessee city into a music powerhouse already exist at home.
"There are a number of changes that they made 25 years ago in order to become what they are today," Smith said in a recent news conference. "I want to find out a little bit about what that is, and see if we can develop some excellent partnerships with the music industry so that we can do a transfer of talent and transfer of expertise."
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Calgary's music industry continues to grow yearly with major events like the Calgary Stampede and Cowboys Music Festival, which draw around 1.4 million and 165,000 fans respectively, and Smith believes that its estimated $2.3 billion value can reach Nashville's own $28.3 billion impact by taking the right steps.
Calgary is already scaling its musical infrastructure, notably with the addition of Scotia Place, a new arena and home for the Calgary Flames, which is currently being built and set to open in fall 2027, and will also host concerts. The province is also looking to expand on existing infrastructure, with Stampede Park aiming to become a year-round entertainment destination as part of its 20-year plan, which aligns with the premier's vision for the province.
"Right now, Stampede Park is event-driven. You don’t come here unless there’s an event," Calgary Stampede CEO Joel Cowley told the Calgary Herald. "We want to create something so cool and vibrant that it’s just a place to come. We have an incredible opportunity to create something much like Nashville has, as far as being a magnet for people from around the world."
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The National Music Centre is another organization that has been championing local talent, recently announcing plans to celebrate its tenth anniversary with a series of mini-residencies with ten Alberta musicians, connecting them with instruments, studios, technology and a studio team to allow them to work on their craft while remaining within their home province. Its President and CEO, Andrew Mosker, highlights the increasing debates surrounding noise bylaws as proof of the increasing popularity and demand for live music within the province, which he sees as a key opportunity to build a "bona fide music city."
“It’s really started to pick up speed, though, in the past year, with conversations around noise bylaws, the balance between urban and residential development and live music, and how those can coexist together harmoniously,” he told the Calgary Herald.
Alberta recently named Jennifer Venance as its first-ever music commissioner, who will oversee the implementation of the Alberta Music Plan, an initiative meant to "take Alberta’s music sector to the top of the charts." Venance's goal is to continue supporting and growing the careers of local Alberta artists, allowing them to reach and shine on a national and international scale and, in turn, investing more money into the province's local economy. It's a potential that's already been proven by Calgary-born artists like chart-topper Tate McRae, who was Billboard Canada's Top Canadian Artist of 2025 and recently ascended to festival headliner status.
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"Calgary has the venues, the festivals, the songwriters and the audiences," Smith wrote on X. "Now it just needs a push to turn all of that into an even bigger industry. That is what I went to Nashville to learn about. They did not become the music capital of the world by accident. They built it deliberately over decades, and the people who run it were happy to tell me how. Calgary can be Nashville North. The talent is already here. Now let’s build it."
