Corktown Sounds & Corktown Sounds Benefit Concert
Summer is a time for festivals, and Corktown Sounds is one of the best!
Corktown Sounds is a weekly strolling outdoor music festival in Detroit, featuring local street musicians and buskers encouraging visitors to walk the Corktown neighborhood and support businesses. It’s held in partnership with the Corktown Business Association and features a diverse lineup of performers, including local artists as well as nationally-recognized musicians who are making their way through Detroit on tour.
Corktown Sounds has had two successful summers in 2021 and 2022. It looks like 2023 might look a little different than the first two years, but music will continue to fill Detroit all summer long. The festival is a great excuse to explore this historic neighborhood, which has been around since 1805. You’ll find restaurants, bars, shops, murals, and more!
Organizing such an event requires a lot of planning, coordination, and communication. Puente Cultural Integration excels in program development and events! We played a crucial role in making Corktown Sounds a reality by providing support in three key areas: communications, artist booking, and project management logistics.
The CBA provided a vision for Corktown Sounds and Puente established all of the infrastructure needed to have effective marketing and communications. In less than a month, we designed a basic branding package, developed a blog-based website, set-up the email info@corktownsounds.com, and launched social media channels (with no ad spend budget). We used our extensive network and communication resources to spread the word about Corktown Sounds and generate interest among the community. We created social media posts, email newsletters, and flyers to promote the event and encourage people to attend. Additionally, we worked closely with the artists and venues to ensure that all communications were clear and consistent and that everyone was on the same page regarding event details and logistics. We maintain the website and social media throughout the year, keeping the music festival alive and relevant with the extensive content library of photos and videos we took the previous summer.
Secondly, Puente Cultural Integration coordinated the artist booking. We created new connections within the local music scene to identify and book talented artists who could perform at Corktown Sounds. The reason we chose to work with Corktown on this project was so we could intentionally seek out diverse talent from neighboring areas (Southwest, Eastside, Westside) to ensure that all of Detroit would be represented. We were responsible for reaching out to musicians, bands, and performers, and negotiated contracts and fees. We also helped coordinate logistics such as sound equipment, strategic venues, and performance schedules, making sure that everything ran smoothly each week.
Finally, we provided support in areas such as budgeting, sponsorships, fundraising, focused on the big picture of where the festival might go in the future, and also ensuring that all the details were taken care of so that the event could be a success.
One Day, Three Locations, Six Bands was the tagline for the first-ever Corktown Sounds Benefit Concert, which took place on February 4th, 2023. The event took place at three different locations in Corktown: Nancy Whiskey, Lager House, and McShane’s.
The funds raised from the benefit concert significantly boosted Corktown Sounds, providing much-needed financial support to continue organizing the annual festival. The money will be used to cover expenses such as artist fees, production costs, and community outreach efforts. fundraiser
Thanks to the our partnership with the Corktown Business Association, Corktown Sounds was a huge accomplishment. The event drew a large and diverse crowd, and the performances were well-received by everyone in attendance. Everyone is excited for what is to come.
Through our work as a Detroit-based consulting agency, Puente Cultural Integration is helping to build stronger, more connected communities in Detroit and beyond by support the City’s diverse communities. The mission of Puente Cultural Integration is to provide and advocate for equitable resources and opportunities to immigrant and minority-owned businesses. We help to bridge the cultural and language gap between the Latinx/Hispanic community and agencies through inclusive program development, bilingual and culturally appropriate marketing strategies, Spanish-language services, workshops, individualized small business coaching, and cross-cultural consulting.