Long Beach wants to become a city that embraces and cultivates live music, whether it be in a concert venue, small coffee shops or on street corners.

The City Council this week took steps toward updating existing laws and possibly crafting some new ones, in effort to encourage more live entertainment throughout the city.

Councilwoman Jeannine Pearce spearheaded the item after months of talks with the Long Beach Music Council and others, who feel Long Beach is ripe with culture that needs to be showcased.

“An arts community is not by accident, it’s by design,” Pearce said. “We need policies that don’t just tolerate the arts; they cultivate and appreciate them.”

Though it’s still early in the process, the idea is for city staff to consider ways to lift barriers to live entertainment, where appropriate. Throughout the discussion on Tuesday, several council members and the mayor expressed their aversion to a blanket policy or a “one size fits all” approach.

“We should maintain our flexibility and keep the tools we have to provide quality of life,” Vice Mayor Rex Richardson said. “I don’t think every neighborhood in town is going to be the same, so we should tie some regulations to certain corridors.”

Mayor Robert Garcia agreed, saying he would like to see less restrictions on the downtown entertainment district, for instance, and perhaps more in other areas, such as Belmont Shore, where homes are backed up to bars and restaurants.

Garcia also asked staff to consider modeling the city’s policies after some of the best live music locations in the country, such as Austin or Seattle.

A report will return to council in the coming months that considers how Long Beach could become a more music-friendly city. At that time, city officials can determine what their next steps will be.