Strike up the band: Lafayette to host 2018 Music Cities Convention

Lafayette has been chosen to display its diverse heritage of music and culture and showcase music’s impact on communities in the “largest and most extensive gathering on music cities” in 2018, Lafayette Travel spokeswoman Kelly Strenge said in a news release.

Set to the theme of “Power of Diversity and Music in City Building,” The 2018 Music Cities Convention is set in the hub of Cajun culture. Scheduled for Oct. 11-12, the convention coincides with Festivals Acadiens et Créoles, a four-day-long festival centered around celebrating and preserving the Bayou State’s French heritage. The event is hosted by Sound Diplomacy, an advisory agency for music cities around the world.

“There’s no better place to explore that than Lafayette, a place built, from the ground up on diversity of culture, music and thought,” Shain Shapiro, Sound Diplomacy’s CEO, said.

The 2018 convention will be hosted in partnership with Lafayette Convention & Visitors Commission as well as CREATE, or Culture, Recreation, Entertainment, Arts, Tourism and Economy, an initiative designed to foster growth among creative minds in Lafayette Parish.

“We look forward to showcasing our music and area to attendees from all around the world,” Ben Berthelot, LCVC CEO and president, said. “We also look forward to the great dialogue that will take place during the event that ties in nicely into the CREATE initiative and growing our cultural economy.”

Previous conventions have been hosted in Berlin; Brighton, England; and Washington, D.C. The next convention is set for April 19-20 in Melbourne, Australia.

Mayor-President Joel Robideaux said the convention “reinforces the importance a cultural economy” has “to a city’s success.”

“With the launch of our CREATE initiative underway, there could not be a more appropriate time for Lafayette to host the Music Cities Convention,” Robideaux said.