Mayor Ford to lead music-business trip to Texas
Posted September 27, 2013 12:40 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford will be leading a two-day business trip to Austin, Texas, beginning Oct. 3.
The purpose of the trip is to meet with Austin city officials and music industry representatives to learn how Austin has created a music industry that generates three times more economic activity than Toronto’s even though it has one-third of the population.
The Toronto delegation will include several councillors, including Doug Ford, Michael Thompson and Gary Crawford, and Invest Toronto CEO Renato Discenza. Music industry representatives include Jeff Cohen, owner of the Horseshoe Tavern and Lee’s Palace, Music Canada president Graham Henderson and Jesse Kumagai, director of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall.
“Austin has shown the world how music can be a strong economic driver for a city’s entertainment and tourist industries,” Mayor Ford said in a release on Friday. “Toronto already has one of the largest music sectors in North America, but it can be bigger and better. We have the talent and we have the potential. This trade mission will help us translate that talent and potential into economic development and jobs.”
Ford, his brother and the music industry representatives will be paying for their own expenses, while the other participating city councillors and Discenza’s expenses will be covered by Invest Toronto.
Last September, the mayor led a trade mission to Chicago and renewed sister-city agreements.
