Conversations on songwriting featuring top names like Luciano Luna and Salvador Aponte, as well as panels on artist strategy, investment, social media and artistic development will be the backbone of a new music conference — Unión Musical — taking place July 9 and 10 in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The confab, launched as a private, by invitation only event focused on regional Mexican music two years ago, opens its doors to the public for the first time at Expo Guadalajara, with programming that includes broader topics. Although the focus is still heavily on música mexicana, the applications of the conversations and panels apply to the industry at large.

Unión Musical is the brainchild of Ivan Sergey, CEO of monitoring system Scanner Sound and singer/ songwriters Andrea Merodio and Rodrigo Ruiz.

The fact that Ruiz and Merodio are both songwriters incentivized them to create the event.

“We wanted to integrate in a single place valuable conversations that provide teachings on everything having to do with the music industry, integrating several genres with industry leaders willing to connect, listen and share knowledge and experience,” says Merodio, who oversees PR and social media strategy, among others.

This year’s programming, which takes place across two days, beginning at 3 p.m. Guadalajara time, includes panels on AI, artist strategy and social media investment. Speakers include regional Mexican leaders like respected manager and producer Fernando Camacho (Banda MS), Roberto Ruiz (Kartel Records) and Isael Gutiérrez (VIP Entertainment).

The event will also include an award ceremony honoring a “Legendary producer” as well as Lifetime achievement artist winners.

Tickets to Unión Musical can be purchased here.