You could feel the tempo building last night at the inaugural HSV Quarterly Music Meetup hosted by the Huntsville Music Board at the Mars Music Hall. It was an opportunity for the Music Board to introduce the city’s new music officer Matt Mandrella to the public as well as the music community.
Mandrella’s hiring is a crescendo to a more than year-long search for the perfect candidate to fill the position as the city is on the verge of becoming the premier music city in the Southeast.
With the Orion Amphitheater at Apollo Park opening in May and the expansion of music venues all over the city, Mayor Battle is happy to have him onboard.
“We had over 100 people who came in and applied for the job and we got it down to the final three,” said Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle. “They were three really brilliant people and any one of them could have done the job, but Matt has sort of been there and done that.”
Mandrella came to Huntsville via Memphis, but his background in major music culture stood out.
“He has been out in Austin, Texas, which has a huge music presence, and he has done some of the offshoots of music programs out there, before moving to Graceland,” said Battle.
Mandrella was involved with all aspects of marketing for the iconic Graceland campus and served as the primary marketing contact for Graceland Live, a new music venture with Live Nation focused on bringing renowned touring acts to venues at the property.
Battle added, “We felt he would be a great fit for the City of Huntsville, and he came down and looked around, felt he would be a good fit for Huntsville too, so it worked out perfectly.”
Mandrella has been on the job since January but has spent the past few weeks getting to know Huntsville’s arts and hospitality organizations and visiting with them to familiarize himself with the people who are currently driving Huntsville’s music economy.
Since the Music Board began meeting in late 2019, they have accomplished a great deal including holding regular policy meetings to discuss a music policy handbook, and doing their research on noise ordinances and how they impact artists planning musical events.
The goal is to make it easier for artists, venues, businesses and residents to comply with those policies.
“A growing music industry will do great things for our quality of life and create a whole other job and economic sector in Huntsville,” said Dennis Madsen, manager of Urban and Long-Range Planning for the City of Huntsville, who has also overseen the Mayor’s Music Initiative from its beginning in 2019. “That was the big motivation behind doing the music audit and creating the Board.”
So with infrastructure and policy in place, it is time to take the next step.
That step is Matt Mandrella.
“Now it starts with a fan and artist enthusiasm,” Mandrella said. “And before you can really define what a scene’s going to look like, you have to bring everyone who has an interest in that scene together.”
If Thursday evening’s gathering was any hint, he will find a lot of interest and support from the Huntsville community.
“The Music Board has done a lot of planning behind the scenes, and with our new music officer, Matt Mandrella on board, I feel confident they’ll work well together to strike the right chord,” said Mayor Battle.
Don’t miss out! Subscribe to our email newsletter to have all our smart stories delivered to your inbox.
