The city is putting $100,000 into MEMFund, microgrants for Memphis music businesses and professionals. Music Export Memphis runs it, and rules are due in the coming weeks.

Memphis music businesses and the people who work behind the scenes will be able to apply for grants of up to $3,000 from a new city-funded program.

The City of Memphis is putting $100,000 into the Memphis Music Ecosystem Fund, or MEMFund. The city announced it Thursday in a news release. The money comes through the city’s Office of Creative and Cultural Economy and covers both the grants and the cost of running them.

Who it is for

Music Export Memphis will run the fund. It will take applications, review them and hand out the money. The grants are for Memphis-based music businesses, entrepreneurs and creative professionals in three parts of the industry:

  • live music exhibition
  • production
  • supporting services

Grants can pay for:

  • professional development
  • technology upgrades
  • infrastructure improvements
  • marketing
  • other needs that help a business grow and stay open

Music Export Memphis has given money to Memphis artists and bands for 10 years, the release said. This is its first fund for the businesses around them.

“We’ve been investing in Memphis-based artists and bands for 10 years, but this is our first opportunity to provide grants to the ecosystem that supports those artists,” said Elizabeth Cawein, the group’s executive director.

Why now

The fund is the first major step taken from the 2024 Memphis Music Strategy, the city said. Sound Diplomacy, an international consultancy, wrote the strategy. It named targeted investment in the local music industry as a priority.

“We want those people to have the opportunity to build successful businesses and lasting careers right here in Memphis,” Mayor Paul Young said in the release.

DeMarcus Suggs directs the city’s Office of Creative and Cultural Economy. “We’ve identified the opportunities and the challenges facing our music industry,” he said. “Now we’re putting resources behind that work.”

What it means for you

  • No application is open yet. Eligibility rules, program guidelines and application details “will be announced in the coming weeks,” the city said.
  • Applications will go through Music Export Memphis’s established application portal, the city said.
  • At $3,000 a grant, $100,000 would cover about 33 awards at most. The real number will be lower, because part of the money pays for running the program.

We will add the application dates here when they are published. For a night out in the meantime, see our guide to live music and nightlife in Memphis.