San Francisco expands SF Music Week to boost local music economy

San Francisco is reviving and expanding SF Music Week for a second year, scheduling the city-backed festival and conference from Feb. 23 to March 1, 2026. Produced with SF Live, Noise Pop and the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, the program is pitched as an economic and cultural intervention aimed at shoring up the local music ecosystem.

The week will feature free conferences, an Industry Summit, an Artist Development Day and more than two dozen partner events staged across San Francisco. Organizers and city officials framed the week as a strategy to support independent musicians, promote venue vitality and drive economic recovery through arts and culture programming. By combining professional development, networking and public performances, the initiative aims to move beyond one-off showcases toward sustained artist support and venue activation.

City involvement and the presence of OEWD signal a policy shift that treats creative work as part of the local workforce and economic strategy. For musicians, panels and Artist Development Day offer training, pitching opportunities and connections to venues and promoters; for club owners and bars, the Industry Summit is intended to address operational challenges and help rebuild regular audience flows. For small businesses that depend on nighttime foot traffic, a concentrated week of events can translate into higher sales, incremental staffing hours and renewed demand for sound and production services.

This approach fits within a broader trend of municipalities investing in cultural economies as a tool for recovery and neighborhood vitality. San Francisco’s program explicitly ties artistic support to economic objectives, positioning SF Music Week as both a celebration and a policy lever. The scale of the week has increased from its inaugural year, and organizers are expanding partner events across diverse neighborhoods to spread economic impact beyond downtown corridors.

There are risks and limits. Short-term event weeks can spike activity without creating permanent demand; venue operators and artists will be watching for follow-through in year-round booking and funding. Measuring outcomes such as ticket sales, venue revenue, new gigs for local acts and audience demographics will determine whether the week becomes a durable engine for the creative economy.

For San Francisco residents, SF Music Week offers immediate opportunities to see local talent, attend free conferences and support neighborhood venues. Mark Feb. 23 to March 1, 2026 on the calendar to catch partner events and professional programming. The bigger test will come after the week ends: whether the city and industry partners translate this concentrated effort into lasting growth for artists, venues and the small businesses that depend on them.