Powered by Fresh Arts, Make Music Day Houston is a free, annual, citywide celebration that transforms public spaces into stages every June 21st. As part of a global movement spanning over 2,000 cities in 120 countries, the initiative breaks the traditional festival mold by inviting musicians of all ages, skill levels and genres to perform in parks, local businesses and venues across Houston.

CHALLENGE

Following a successful 2025 campaign, Fresh Arts retained Like Minds to drive citywide awareness and boost participation among local musicians, venues and community members.

Achieving earned media share-of-voice presented a unique hurdle: the event directly coincided with both Father’s Day weekend and Houston’s high-profile FIFA World Cup festivities. To cut through an extraordinarily crowded local media landscape, Like Minds needed a creative positioning strategy to elevate Make Music Day Houston into a top-tier, must-attend community highlight.

STRATEGY

To maximize awareness leading up to June 21, Like Minds developed a targeted media relations strategy promoting Make Music Day Houston as a free citywide celebration that welcomed musicians and audiences of all ages. Unlike traditional concerts and festivals that often require paid admission, Make Music Day provided an opportunity for anyone to experience live music for free throughout the city.

Our outreach highlighted Houston's participation in the global Make Music Day movement, opportunities for musicians and venues to get involved and free performances across the city. As Father's Day and FIFA World Cup festivities approached, Like Minds incorporated those timely angles into media pitching to position the festival as a fun activity for families and a way for out-of-town soccer fans to experience Houston's local music scene. By highlighting participating venues including restaurants, bars, Tejas Brewery, Discovery Green, Project Row Houses and more, the team showcased the festival as a unique way to explore Houston through music.

The team secured interviews, distributed calendar listings and pitched local television, digital and community media to generate excitement and encourage attendance.

RESULTS

Like Minds secured 32 pieces of media coverage that reached a combined audience of more than 5.02 million people. Coverage included placements in leading Houston media outlets such as KHOU 11, FOX 26, CW39's “H-Town Live,” Houston Public Media's “Houston Matters” and CultureMap Houston. Additional coverage appeared across community publications and newsletters, helping extend awareness to audiences throughout the Greater Houston area.

The campaign successfully elevated Make Music Day Houston as a community-wide celebration and reinforced Fresh Arts' mission of making music accessible to everyone. By adapting media outreach to align with FIFA festivities while maintaining focus on the festival's purpose, Like Minds helped generate strong awareness for the event and encouraged Houstonians to celebrate the first day of summer through free live music across the city.

Like Minds is proud to have helped amplify Make Music Day Houston and contribute to another successful year of bringing musicians, venues and communities together through the universal language of music.