Bogotá

Music: a motor for social, cultural and economical development

Capital of a multicultural nation, Bogota grew from 800.000 to 8.000.000 inhabitants in the last 70 years. The City’s residents include people from 68 indigenous groups, afro colombian and ‘raizal’ as well as gypsy population.

Bogota is a global, diverse, inclusive and creative city that acknowledges citizens as the center of its transformation processes. In past decades the city went through an urban, economic, social and cultural recovery supported by public policies that include culture as a main pillar.  Music was part of this process through the “Festivales Al Parque” city program started in 1995, which contributed in recovering the citizens’ appropriation of public spaces, reinforced identity and diversity, gathering more than 600.000 participants every year.

With more than 60 music festivals and 400 venues presenting live music throughout the year, Bogota is an important musical center in the region, with a diverse music scene -salsa, fusion, rock, opera, classical, chamber, electronic, pop, tropical, ranchera, hip hop, experimental, bolero, gospel and Colombia’s own rich musical tradition- that breeds a new Colombian music sound.

Cultural industries in the city improved with the participation of the private sector through the Bogota Chamber of Commerce, which has developed markets and fairs for creative sectors: Books, Arts, Performing Arts, Audiovisual, and in particular the BoMM – Bogota Music Market, a business platform for local and regional agents created in 2012 along with Bogota’s inclusion in the UNESCO Network. The Chamber also developed the City of Music Cluster in 2015 for strengthening the city’s dynamic music sector.

City governments have consistently worked to guarantee citizen’s rights and wellbeing, and since 2013 Bogota runs Project CLAN to include music and the arts as part of the city’s public education programs, providing musical education to 30.000 children and young people in public schools.

Bogota is a renowed destination for business, culture, education and tourism. The City Marketing Strategy incorporated the City of Music program since 2010, and thus integrates public and private agents in its development, support and international projection.

As a Creative City of Music, Bogotá envisages:

• Sharing of experiences on the positive impact of music in facing social, ethnic and economic inequalities, particularly in the field of music education, public policies, economy of music and community participaction.
• Design and execution of joint research projects on the economic and social impact of music, and its contribution to the city’s human development.
• Contribution to strengthening circulation possibilities for artists, students and researchers in the Latin American and Caribbean region, due to the city’s position as a geographical and cultural hub in the Americas, promoting contact between agents of the cities’ music sectors through exchange and residencies programs and virtual platforms.