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In Every Town: An All-Ages Music Manualfesto is a comprehensive resource for all-ages music organizers.

"This down-to-earth narrative is packed with candid, valuable advice." --Library Journal

About the book | What's inside | Contributors | Order now!

Color Cube is making news in Boise, ID as it prepares to open its doors to all-ages music fans.

Check out this awesome article from Boise Weekly to learn more about how Boise is beefing up its all-ages scene, or pay a visit to the Color Cube Facebook page.

Last Thursday on NPR's Fresh Air Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day spent some time remembering his teenage experience at the legendary 924 Gilman, located in downtown Berkeley, California.

"I was getting an education that I wasn't really getting at home, or from the schools I had to go to," he says. "It was this feeling, like, I'm out of prison."

The shout-out comes during troubled times for 924 Gilman, as the decades-old community-run punk venue struggles to raise funds to pay for an abrupt and massive rent hike. From the 924 Gilman website,

The club’s rent has been increasing every year for the last twenty three years, and up until now we’ve been able to make the adjustments needed to compensate for those increases, but what we are facing now is the equivalent of having twenty years of rent increases condensed into one, and once it goes into effect the clock will begin to tick away as we struggle to generate the extra $31,000.00 a year needed to cover this massive rent hike.

And with a $25 donation to 924 Gilman earning you a handsome Gilman t-shirt or tote bag, now if the perfect time to let them know how much you care.

Keep 924 Gilman alive by donating now

Read AMP's spotlight on 924 Gilman, excerpted from IN EVERY TOWN: an All-ages Music Manualfesto.

Listen to the entire 36-minute interview with Billy Joe Armstrong

Western Washington University will host a very exciting Pop Music Industry Conference this weekend in Bellingham, Washington. Music industry experts and professionals will be speaking at the event, including AMP's own Kevin Erickson! Kevin will speak on a panel about the struggles and joys of all-ages venues.

WHEN: Saturday & Sunday, May 22nd and 23rd, 10am - 10pm each day (dropping in for only part of the conference is perfectly OK)

WHERE: Viking Union and Old Main Theater at Western Washington University (yea, Bellingham!)

WHO: Music Industry Professionals and Students or Community Members interested in learning about the music industry or aspiring to build a career in ANY facet of the music world.

WHAT (PURPOSE): The Pop Music Industry Conference is bringing a variety of music industry experts to Bellingham in order to allow students and community members a chance to learn the ins-and-outs of getting into and succeeding in the business.

PRICE: FREE (We know. It's amazing.)

Special shout-outs to friends of AMP Jessica Hopper (author of The Girl's Guide To Rocking), Carla DeSantis (Editor & Publisher of Rockrgrl), and Gabriel Teodros (Seattle-based hiphop artist), all also speaking.

To find out more about this momentous and FREE opportunity, pay a visit to the Pop Music Industry Conference webpage.

Open mic, homework help, Junkyard Symphony, all-ages shows, classes on costume design, audio production, film, painting, and song-singing - these are the opportunities provided to the youth of Murfreesboro, Tennessee through YEAH, or Youth Empowerment through Arts and Humanities.

Youth Empowerment through Arts and Humanities (YEAH) seeks to build a Creative Connected Community by providing a safe and supportive environment in which young people can express their creativity and grow as individuals through community involvement.

We facilitate after-school programs dedicated to youth and art, with the goal of providing an arts & humanities facility for our community. We provide a space for an incredibly diverse range of arts, including acting, painting, music (performance, composition, and production), crafting, writing, and many, many more.

Our mission is to educate the youth of our community in the skills required for these arts, but also the intrinsic value of each art and the value it has in our community; in doing so, it is our goal to enrich our community as a whole by empowering the upcoming generation.

In early 2009, YEAH moved into its newest space, a 6,000sq. ft. building in the square of downtown Murfreesboro. To contribute to YEAH, and to learn more about how to become a friend of YEAH, visit their website, yeahintheboro.org.

The Flywheel Arts Collective, after being forced to close the doors to its original space three years ago, has reopened at 43 Main Street in downtown Easthampton, Massachusetts. The grassroots community arts center and music venue has taken residence in Easthampton's historic Old Town Hall and former police station.

"The renovations took longer than we expected, but the results are worth it," said Jeremy Smith, who was a core member of the collective that opened Flywheel in 1998. "We demoed out the old police station, rewired it, refinished the floors, added bathrooms, and improved accessibility and safety. It’s beautiful." The Old Town Hall location has more than double the previous space's capacity and features an updated sound system. To do this work, the group raised nearly $50,000 and relied heavily on volunteer and pro-bono professional labor.

The new Flywheel, like the old, will feature a performance space, gallery, zine library, and later this year, a cafe. Smith hopes that being located in Easthampton's downtown will make the center attractive to individuals and groups who want to get involved as members, rent the space, or simply attend events, which will include workshops, children's programs, theater, and film and video, as well as Flywheel's mainstay, music shows by a range of local, national, and international artists. As before, the programming will be driven by volunteer community members who produce their own events at the space. "Flywheel is what you make of it," added Smith.

Flywheel, a collectively run, not-for-profit space, aims to build community and give artists of all types the opportunity to craft, practice, and perform their work in an environment where creativity is valued over profit. Volunteer-run and governed by consensus, Flywheel believes that art and information should be equally accessible and affordable to all people.

To learn more about Flywheel, or to see how you can get involved, visit the Flywheel Arts Collective Website.

Here are a bunch of strategies to help get more people on board. Some take 15 seconds, others are more involved, but every bit helps.



Facebook: Our Facebook page is one place you’ll find daily updates on the campaign. Make sure you’re a “fan”, and invite
your friends to become fans. Also invite them to this Facebook event. Update your status EVERY TIME you vote and it will encourage others to do the same.  Post the video to your wall. Make it personal and write a note about why giving young people access to participatory music culture matters to you.  If you see your friends posting about the contest, hit that “like” button; it will then show up in more friends’ news feeds.

Bands, Record Labels, and Venues & Organizations with “fan pages”, you can add AMP to your page's “favorites”, and also share the
video and voting link with your page's fans.

Twitter: Follow us, and tweet about the contest!Send daily tweets reminding your friends to vote. Make it personal with a memory of a favorite music moment each day. Retweet your friends' tweets as well.

Email: Send a personal email to friends and family telling the story of why music mattered/matters to you. Can you think of 10 friends who would vote every day? Twenty more who would watch the video?

In person: Email Kevin and he’ll send you a pdf of some handbills you can photocopy
and pass out at shows and events throughout the month of February.

Myspace:Use
&u=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Di8Iz8Ornhz4&l=1">this link to post a bulletin or blog post to myspace. You can also put AMP in your "Top 8."

YouTube:   Subscribe to our channel, and share the campaign video with friends!  Feeling extra ambitious?  Make your own video and tell your personal story—send us a link and we’ll post it on our site.

Etc:   Got a blog?  A college radio show? A billboard by the highway?   You know what to do.

THANK YOU!  We couldn't do this without the help of all our supporters across the nation!

* Full disclosure:  this contest is sponsored by Pepsi.  We hope you don’t take our participation in the contest as AMP endorsing anyone’s products, or abandoning our community values.  We know the issue of corporate donations to nonprofits is something that different music and activist communities have a wide range of strong feelings about.  We’ll have more to say about this later, but for now, rest assured, you won’t ever see Pepsi logos plastered all over AMP’s materials.  In fact, if you feel like making fun of Pepsi as you encourage your friends to vote for us, go right ahead!

Young people in Staunton Virginia have been fighting for a place for live music and self-expression since the beloved Kronos Gallery was shut down by city officials in 2009.

Heather Kays of the News Leader reports:

After months of fighting to keep Kronos Art Gallery open and then months of trying to find a new venue to have music and other arts-related events, a determined group of teenagers were again told they had to go home.

Droves of teens dressed as zombies flooded the streets around 9:50 p.m. Saturday, as the police advised Mary Catherine Richardson, who rents Spectrum Studios, that everyone had 20 minutes to leave the premises.

While Richardson says she has the proper business license to operate as a music venue and has personally spoken to officials to get the OK to have such events, police told her Saturday she did not have the proper permit. The officers also made mention of a previous noise complaint the following year at the same address.

However, Sgt. E.J. Salemi said Richardson did not need a permit for the type of event she was having Saturday and the issue was more about the noise coming from the building and the fact there were some teens standing outside and yelling at cars, he said Sunday.

"I think they can get control of this and make it worthwhile as long as they keep everyone quiet and out of traffic," Salemi said. "Provide the resources for the kids, but keep it quiet."

Salemi gave this account: Spectrum Studios, a warehouse located across the street from Staunton Junction, is a busy thoroughfare. As police were following up at another call they heard noise across the street at the venue. "Kids were coming outside. Just being really loud. Yelling at cars as they were going by." Police said they were not aware this was a planned event or that the venue recently had been established for this purpose when they spoke with Richardson about shutting down or risking another noise violation.

Charlene Schillinger, 18, one of the teens who fought to keep Kronos open and find another venue after that venue closed, called police to try to figure out the problem.

After it became clear that there was no permit needed and no noise complaints filed, the embarrassed police chief apologized. Unfortunately, the episode and resulting controversy may have, um, spooked the landlords to the point where they no longer want to allow music events in the space.

Thanks to your support, AMP has won a $50,000 prize in the Refresh Everything campaign!

Against the odds we proved that a people-powered campaign of hip-hop activists, DIY punks, youth organizers, underground musicians and fans, and their friends and families can unite to wrestle some cash away from the fizzy-sugar-water industry!*

We are so grateful for the support we received this month from so many unexpected quarters, and thrilled that nearly 7000 people have watched our video. Our facebook following has quadrupled since January 1! To all the bands, record labels, venues, organizations, and media friends who helped us spread the word, we owe you a huge debt of gratitude.

WE WON!

Thanks everyone! More to come. For now, visit our home page and make sure you're signed up on the email list.