Michael Orlove, senior programs director, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and founder-director, World Music Festival Chicago

“[Five years from now,] I see a lot of labels and genres being kind of broken down—music clubs just being music clubs and presenting good music, and all different kinds of music, rather than focusing just on a particular style. That might be a hope more than a prediction. [But] I’ve noticed a lot of clubs that were deemed ‘rock’ or ‘jazz’ have really broadened their horizons. And it’s no longer just, ‘the Empty Bottle only presents rock’ or ‘Martyrs’ only presents rock.’ So what is going to be the music itself? What I’m seeing more and more is labels just being dropped—when I say labels I’m talking about styles of music—and lots of people just gathering around a band they really like. You can point out examples now, but in the future you’re going to see less of a club being known for X, and really a club being known for X, Y and Z…diversifying what [clubs are] presenting on a daily and weekly basis.”