Ibagué
Colombia
UNESCO City of Music
since 2021
With its rich cultural infrastructure represented in over 200 cultural assets, Ibagué has been recognized as the music capital of Colombia. The city is home to over 30 musical and artistic events throughout the year, with its highlights range from music, craftsmanship, popular arts to gastronomy. Over the past five years, the city has further strengthened its organizational expertise with more than five million spectators being welcomed online and in praesentia. The musical sector has flourished in Ibagué. A number of creative businesses in the city are distributed across all the links of the creativity productive chain, from creation to distribution, from exhibition to formation, and beyond. The music sector has significantly contributed to Ibagué’s economy, especially in the creation of jobs in activities related to arts, entertainment, recreation, and other services. One of the city’s priorities, the music sector is also exemplified by the allocation of a budget dedicated to musical education. Between 2015 and 2020, this budget amounted to over USD 13 million, and benefited a total of 332 high schools, 158 bachelors, and 10 specialization degrees.
As a Creative City of Music, the following steps will be important:
- Recognizing and enhancing the creative and cultural vocations, seeking economic, social and cultural growth with the inclusion of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of society, as well as the development of a focus on innovation and creativity;
- Increasing welfare for musical sector agents, as well as for the different supporting sectors and other cultural manifestations;
- Providing more spaces for spectators, so as to foster the identity and renewal of the city’s cultural values;
- Increasing professionalization, creation of decent jobs, circulation and distribution of cultural goods and services at the national and international levels; and
- Generating opportunities for strengthening the UCCN in Latin America.