INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis nonprofit organization and community resource Musical Family Tree will have its grand opening ceremony 8 p.m. Friday in the Murphy Arts Center in Indianapolis.
Located in Fountain Square, Musical Family Tree’s first ever brick-and-mortar space will give the organization increased ability to serve the community and strengthen the already influential Indiana music scene, said Seth Johnson, blog editor and event coordinator for Musical Family Tree.
The venue will be for all ages with a bar for patrons of legal drinking age. The event space will also feature an attached record store when you enter the space, stocking popular local and independent artists.
“We wanted to improve the Indiana music community to the best of our ability,” Johnson said. “We also wanted to spread knowledge and equip artists with what they need to succeed.”
The organization is celebrating with a night of music from a variety of Indiana artists. Performances include Indianapolis-based hip-hop artist and producer Clint Breeze accompanied by a band of Indianapolis jazz musicians, the smooth indie-rock of Barley Pops and the Musical Family Tree musical initiative “EP in a Weekend.”
Founded in January 2004, Musical Family Tree started out as a digital archive and blog space to preserve and document independent music around Indiana. The Musical Family Tree online archive currently contains more than 1,400 Indiana-related artists and is updated on a nearly day-to-day basis. Its mission is to help create a sustainable and world-class music scene in Indiana, according to the website.
With the new event space, Musical Family Tree will be able to provide more educational opportunities for local artists, Johnsonsaid.
It can provide resources like paid performances, music videos and recording projects in addition to educational opportunities. As a nonprofit, Musical Family Tree hopes to provide artists with the opportunity to learn about important issues in the music business like reading a contract and planning a tour, Johnson said.
The venue’s space also allows local artists to meet and team up with other regional artists that come through to perform by creating a network of independent artists to support each other. Creating this network is also an important factor when it comes to picking artists for the shows, Johnson said.
For the grand opening performance, Johnson said he booked artists he saw as a good representation of Musical Family Tree through the eras.
Featuring artists from classic Indianapolis bands like Marmoset and the Pieces alongside current artists like Clint Breeze, the grand opening will be a representation of the spirit of Musical Family Tree, both old and new.
By connecting and strengthening local and independent musicians. Musical Family Tree coordinators hope to unite musicians and music lovers from a variety of genres in a collective of art and appreciation.
“So often it’s easy to get stuck in one particular sound or crowd, so Musical Family Tree is striving make something great in Indiana even greater,” Johnson said. “It’s trying to make the music community to work together to be better together.”
