For the past 26 years, the ASCAP Music Café has introduced new artists and focused the spotlight on seasoned veterans during the Sundance Film Festival.

“Can you believe it?” said Loretta Muñoz, ASCAP assistant vice president, membership. “Since our humble beginnings at the Elks Lodge, we are still enthusiastically celebrating the magic of music and film. The future gets brighter and brighter.”

This year’s Music Café will take place from 2-6 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 21, and Monday, Jan. 22, at the Acura venue, located at 480 Swede Alley and 5th Street, according to Muñoz.

“ASCAP has attended many events there during past festivals, and they’ve always had great programming there — discussions and music,” she said.

Moving the Music Café to the Acura installation is the fruit of a new collaboration between ASCAP and longtime Sundance Film Festival sponsor, Acura.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a professional membership organization of songwriters, composers and music publishers of every kind of music. 

The organization’s mission is to license and promote the music of its members and foreign affiliates, obtain fair compensation for the public performance of their works, and to distribute the royalties that it collects based upon those performances.

Acura is a leading automotive brand committed to delivering expressive styling, innovative engineering and high-performance. 

“It’s a perfect marriage and a dream collaboration,” Muñoz said. “As with ASCAP, Acura has been a long-standing supporter of the festival. In the past we’ve worked with Acura on other projects, helping them with live performances on their stages. They do so much in the creative area by supporting arts and artists globally. And they have some pretty outstanding automobiles as well. So, it’s been a pleasure to work with them, and we’re happy to do it.”

Part of this year’s ASCAP Music Café programming, which will be announced Wednesday, Jan. 17, will include live performances as well as discussions with filmmakers, composers and musicians, something that was started last year, Muñoz said.

“For the longest time, I really wanted to add the composer’s creative element to the Music Café, but I didn’t see a way to do that when we had just straight-up music performances,” she said. 

Those performances have included Patti Smith, Chris Stapleton, St. Vincent, Andrew Bird, Emmylou Harris, Jon Batiste & Stay Human, Sting, ZZ Ward and India.Arie, to name a few.

Things changed during the virtual Sundance Film Festivals that were streamed during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Muñoz.

“Virtual programming gave us a chance to bring songwriters, composers and filmmakers together for some very lively discussions,” she said. “It became a way for us to put the spotlight on the composers and filmmakers who really do provide the soundtracks of our lives.”

So, last year, when the festival returned to a live setting, the ASCAP Music Café included these discussions.

“Composers and filmmakers love the chance to engage in conversations centered around music, and any time we can honor the craft, we’re all for it,” Muñoz said. “It also helps us continue our mission, which is in line with Sundance, in supporting our members and inspiring the community.”