A music and technology festival in Liverpool, England, could be branching out into Athens to bolster the fledgling local tech industry.
Create Athens, a nonprofit that promotes the arts as economic development, and Four Athens, a tech startup incubator, are interested in bringing a version of Sound City to the Classic Center in January. The three-day event—which includes panel discussions and exhibits on topics like gaming, apps, music technology and the arts—is expected to draw 200 attendees to a conference and 3,000 people to an associated music festival.
Sound City would expose startups from across the Southeast to venture capital firms and established companies from New York City and Silicon Valley, according to Jim Flannery, project manager for Four Athens. “It’s access to markets. It’s access to capital. It’s access to expertise,” said Kristen Hirst, a liason for Liverpool to the U.S. who is based in Atlanta.
Sound City started in Liverpool as part of the city’s effort to transition from an economy based on shipping to one based on technology and the arts, Hirst said. Last year, 2,000 people came to the conference and 35,000 to the music festival, Create Athens Chairman Ed Nichols said. Since its inception in 2007, Sound City has created 136 jobs, $17 million in business growth and $3.9 million in visitor spending, according to figures from an independent audit provided by Create Athens.
The Athens Downtown Development Authority voted Tuesday to give Sound City $10,000 from a fund for subsidizing free events that draw big crowds downtown, like AthFest and the Twilight Criterium. Organizers said they hope to win up to $67,000 in public funding from sources like the University of Georgia, the Athens-Clarke County government and the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce. The rest of the $200,000 budget would come from wristband sales and private-sector sponsorships.
The ADDA also approved a contract with Four Athens to subsidize rent on downtown office space for up to 50 startups at an expense of $1,000 to $30,000, depending on how many entrepreneurs sign up. “We had four requests last week to rent space, and we don’t have any (room) anymore,” Flannery said.
Four Athens offers startups cheap rent for a year in hopes they’ll stay in downtown Athens once they become established. “We’re hoping to build that critical mass downtown,” ADDA Executive Director Kathryn Lookofsky said.
ADDA attorney Jim Warnes said he’s talked with UGA environment and design professor Jack Crowley and Steve Dempsey of the Fanning Institute about a downtown master plan but hasn’t finalized a contract because Crowley has been out of town.
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