Giving back to the Finger Lakes hits just the right note for Janelle Bradshaw, a social entrepreneur who is currently spearheading an effort to make live music a regional draw for visitors and residents alike. A trumpet player and board member of the Seneca Falls Performing Arts Center, she is promoting the region’s extensive music offerings through the creation of FLX MUSIC 247, a website that makes it extremely easy for both visitors and residents to find events on a daily basis.

Originally developed to help artists and venues recover from the severe impact of COVID shutdowns, FLX MUSIC 247 is quickly becoming a way to attract old and new visitors year-round to the area. Janelle’s venture has gained the support and interest of many organizations like LOCATE Finger Lakes, who are collaborating regionally on economic development efforts.

“The Finger Lakes area gets over five million visitors a year,” she explains. “I was curious about how they found out what was going on in terms of live music events. We are known for our food, wines, and beer but do visitors know about our rich and varied music?”

Janelle did extensive research and realized there was a hodgepodge of information available on the Internet. Using her business, teaching, and organizational skills, she designed a platform where people can easily search for music by date, location, venue, or genre. They can also find directions, connect with the performers via social media, and even sample their music. One of her creative ideas was color coding the listings, so visitors can search by lakes in order to find drivable distances from where they are staying.

“I become even more excited about being a resident of Seneca Falls and the Finger Lakes Region every day,” Janelle says.

Currently, she is developing partnerships with venues where they pay her to promote either per event or through multi-event packages. After less than a year since she started, FLX MUSIC 247 has seen a strong uptick in website visitors because of her marketing and collaboration efforts, as well as increased attention to the region.

“I’m just pumped up about the potential of the Finger Lakes,” she says. “Travel Leisure Magazine put us as one of the 50 best places to travel in 2022. I hope to be a unifying force to connect the wine trails, beer trails, and everything under the umbrella to amplify the experience businesses are creating for their customers.”

Returning Home to the Finger Lakes

After attending Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio and beginning her career in Materials Management at Navistar International, Janelle decided to return “home.”

To her, this meant “returning home to the lakes and natural beauty where I spent my childhood exploring the State Parks with my family,” Janelle says. “I wanted to get back to the close-knit community that honors the unique history of Seneca Falls, and back to the Goulds Pumps company family.”

Janelle found career opportunities at Goulds and joined the company in 1989 as a Master Scheduler. She purchased a home and found a rich arts community. She began performing in the Finger Lakes Concert Band and the Auburn Chamber Orchestra. A lover of art, local history and nature, Janelle traveled the area and discovered hidden gems in every town in the form of museums, libraries, fine art exhibits, yearly music and arts festivals and parks of every kind.

When Janelle decided to change careers and additional education was a requirement, she found a wealth of options nearby. The Finger Lakes region is home to many private and public colleges. Janelle attended Finger Lakes Community College to satisfy prerequisites and went on to receive her Master’s in Education at Nazareth College of Rochester and her Certificate of Advanced Studies in Educational Leadership from SUNY Oswego. She served her local community as a classroom teacher for seventeen years while raising her family.

A Strong Commitment to Service

Janelle is deeply committed to providing a service that showcases the music and the area where she has lived and worked nearly all her life. In doing so, she honors a family tradition of service.

Her father, E. Barry Bradshaw, was a Seneca Falls attorney who served on the Seneca Falls School Board and was VP and General Counsel at Goulds Pumps. Janelle’s dad began working at Goulds Pumps in 1963. For 35 years, Barry and the entire Goulds Pumps family was dedicated to supporting the local community sharing gifts of time and talents, and through monetary support to numerous organizations. Growing up in the “Goulds Pumps family” provided Janelle clear insights about the interdependence between local industry and the quality of life of smaller communities.

Janelle describes her mother as a “true servant” who participated in many community initiatives, such as the development of the The National Women’s Hall of Fame. Janelle’s parents dedicated over 35 years to nonprofit organizations in the community.

The Bradshaw family was a great fit at Goulds Pumps which has been and continues to be a major supporter of the Seneca Falls community with sponsorships and donations to local nonprofit organizations like the United Way, Seneca Falls Community Band, “It’s a Wonderful Life Weekend”, The National Women’s Hall of Fame, and numerous other organizations that support the arts, sports, and education.

Read more about Goulds Pumps in this LOCATE Finger Lakes Business Journal Article: ITT Goulds Pumps: Celebrating 170 Years of Innovation in the Finger Lakes

Janelle also believes in being involved in the community. She talks up FLX MUSIC 247 to everyone she comes in contact with at chamber events and at the Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance. In addition to dropping promotional materials off at hotels, she also has a podcast planned where she will share about hot music spots in the Finger Lakes and music she enjoys.

One of the best parts of her venture is exploring the region. Because of the nature of her work during the last 35 years, she did not have that opportunity. That all changed since starting FLX MUSIC 247. “Every place is a hidden gem. Every venue is a unique venue with unique food and drink offerings. They have atmospheres they create with the music they present,” she says about her travels.

She is also discovering that business owners in the Finger Lakes are connected in ways she did not imagine. “A lot of people know a lot of other people, and they are willing to share information and help me reach out to different venues. That’s been super exciting.”

All About the Music

Janelle says being able to perform is one of the most important motivators that musicians have to improve their craft. She has performed across the region at gigs ranging from jazz jams, playing with the Auburn Chamber Orchestra and Finger Lakes Jazz Orchestra, and even having the lead trumpet part at the Seneca Falls High School production of Cinderella.

As a Finger Lakes native, Janelle has experienced a resurgence of vitality in the area, and as a new entrepreneur, appreciates the efforts of LOCATE Finger Lakes for providing resources and regional promotion to new businesses. “We are growing on purpose and with a purpose,” Janelle remarks, “we’re making the Finger Lakes a place that you want to, and can, call home.”

Because she finds performing for live audiences so rewarding, one of her big motivators is using FLX MUSIC 247 to provide a level playing field for musicians and small venue owners. Because few have the marketing budgets of big acts and large venues, she says often people don’t know about performances.

She also wants to help musicians find jobs in the Finger Lakes. Eventually, she would like to become a master scheduler for musicians and venues, using the database she has built that currently has information on more than 200 venues, 4,500 music events, and 600 musical acts.

For now, Janelle’s big focus is sustaining and growing FLX MUSIC 247 so that music becomes a key part of the Finger Lakes experience. “If I can facilitate someone coming here, having a great time, and making a lifelong memory, that would be an honor,” she says.

Janelle has a lot of enthusiasm about the region. “The Finger Lakes has everything to offer – cutting edge innovative industries – both old and new, educational think tanks at every local college and university, outstanding arts programs and performing arts centers, historic and contemporary housing choices, sustainable agriculture and access to locally grown foods, beer, wine and spirits, a wealth of natural beauty, and endless opportunities to become involved your local community. Don’t forget the MUSIC!”

LOCATE Finger Lakes is a Finger Lakes economic development initiative designed to assist and foster collaboration among the established Finger Lakes economic development efforts with targeted, proactive, marketing communications and networking. LOCATE Finger Lakes is focused on directing local, national and international business leaders to Finger Lakes information and inspire them to look closely at the region’s assets enabling their businesses, their families and their employees’ families to thrive.

Maureen Ballatori is a LOCATE Finger Lakes Business Journal contributing writer and a member of the organization’s board of directors. She is founder and CEO of 29 Design Studio, a creative agency for food, beverage and agriculture brands. Ballatori also owns Port 100 Cowork and Metro Collective which helps Upstate NY shared space operators activate their workspaces.