The City of Seminole is leading the way in an open mic night on February 28th at 737 Duck Calls. It all started when City Manager Steve Saxon asked Public Information Officer Briana Wymore to be Seminole’s Film and Music Liaison. “I was so excited for this role and to learn about the up and coming music and film industry in Oklahoma,” said Wymore.
Oklahoma’s Film and Music Office has been working on recruiting Film and Music to Oklahoma over the last decade. The impact of Oklahoma’s film and television industry has been recognized by MovieMaker Magazine by ranking Oklahoma City #13 in its top 25 list of big cities and Tulsa as #5 in its top 10 list of small cities/towns for the Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker in 2022. Oklahoma is home to some of the most renowned musical acts and venues in the world. There are more exciting opportunities in Oklahoma’s music industry than ever before. As the entertainment industry continues to flourish both globally and here in Oklahoma, the need for the continued development and expansion of our local music industry workforce and companies is critical.
In October of 2022, Wymore received two free tickets to go to The Music Cities Conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The conference was an international conference and had over 300 participants ranging from musicians to city employees to coordinators from all over the world. Topics focused on how to bring music to a city by embracing creatives and unused spaces. “I asked Tara Geist to go with me since she was looking for ways to promote the Boomtown Rebuild. We had no clue what we going to see or do at this conference, but came back so inspired,” said Wymore.
Wymore and Geist decided a good next step for Seminole’s music industry would be to gather a music focus group. The first meeting was held January 26th where the group was allowed to go around and say what they could offer or what they needed out of the industry. “We had musicians express needs of just wanting a place to play and organizations that wanted future music at events. We also had experts that gave great advice and encouragement,” Wymore said.
After the open discussion, it was decided that there would be two follow up actions: build a performer’s directory on Seminole Film and Music website page and have an open mic night. Geist and Wymore brainstormed locations and thought 737 Duck Calls would be a fun place to try an open mic night. They reached out to the owners who loved the idea. Devin Green, owner of Mister McClain Entertainment and an attendee of the focus group, said he wanted to support the growth of music in Seminole and one way he could do that was to provide sound at the open mic night.
“It was inspiring to see how fast and quick this came together. It shows the desire and need for something like this to happen in our town. I am really looking forward to see talent grow in Seminole as we cultivate the music community,” said Wymore.
Musicians can fill out an online form to sign up to perform at the open mic night at https://seminole.tiny.us/OpenMic or contact Briana Wymore at briana@seminole-oklahoma.net. This event is open to the public and everyone is invited to attend to support and listen to local talent.