Fort Wayne / Allen County Music Economy Strategy (Visit Fort Wayne, June 2026, analysis by Sound Diplomacy)
This is the most important document on this page, because it's not an argument — it's a result. In June 2026, a coalition of public officials, private companies, and philanthropic funders in Fort Wayne unveiled a full music economy strategy as part of the region's 10-year tourism master plan. Sound Diplomacy's analysis found the regional music ecosystem generates $3.1 billion in total economic output and supports roughly 6,900 local jobs. And the region acted on it: a 17-recommendation roadmap spanning promotion, education, policy, and placemaking; a Fort Wayne Music Office to coordinate and champion the sector; and a seven-partner Music Board drawing from the city, Sweetwater and Surack Enterprises, Arts United, the Embassy Theatre, Greater Fort Wayne Inc., and Visit Fort Wayne. The framing matters as much as the numbers — leaders were explicit that this isn't about manufacturing a music scene, it's about building on the ecosystem that already exists. Three lessons for the rest of us: the data can be gathered (a region did it in months, not decades); philanthropy will fund it (the Knight Fund, the Don Wood Foundation, and the Northeast Indiana Strategic Development Commission backed the research); and measurement leads somewhere (an office, a board, a hiring search for an executive director). Fort Wayne wrote the playbook. Now imagine it statewide.