Cody Cowan co-founded the Red River Cultural District in 2015. He is leaving to become chief operating officer of the National Independent Venue Association.
He was also part of the far-reaching group that helped free up some of the city's hotel occupancy tax revenue to direct toward live music efforts. That effort is still kind of getting toward the finish line — or the starting line, however you look at it. But again, another important thing that takes quite a bit of time.
He is departing to become the chief operating officer for the National Independent Venue Association, which is a lobbying and trade group for small music and comedy clubs around the country. It was formed shortly after the start of the pandemic, primarily to start lobbying the federal government for aid that led to the Save Our Stages Act and several billion dollars of aid distributed across the country.