UNESCO Cities of Music

Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia, has a history of cultural vision and social reform and is known internationally for its thriving arts festivals. It has a proud musical heritage, being the first Australian city to establish a tertiary music institution in 1883, and is home to the nation’s first major arts centre complex, Adelaide Festival Centre, opened in 1973.

The city centre is bordered by expansive Park Lands which host numerous cultural events such as Australia’s favourite outdoor music festival WOMADelaide. The metropolitan area extends to famous food and wine regions, whose produce infuses the city’s diverse music culture throughout the year, and its suburbs have  given rise to some of Australia’s greatest rock bands and pop artists.

Festivals are key economic contributors and drivers for tourism in Adelaide, and the city also produces outstanding orchestral, chamber, choral and youth music events year-round.

Adelaide’s leadership holds creativity at the heart of its cultural policies, highlighting the role of live music in a vibrant, liveable city, and its contribution to economic development. In 2014, a pioneering Music Development Office was established, envisioning a whole music ecology for the city and placing music as central to the city’s identity and development.

The Mission of Adelaide UNESCO City of Music is:

1. To enhance and promote collaboration, excellence, diversity and sustainability in all aspects of music making in throughout the City of Music, including urban and regional South Australia.
2. To build international pathways for the City of Music throughout the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and beyond
3. To advocate locally and nationally on behalf of the City of Music and the entire Music sector to fully integrate culture and creativity into policy and sustainable development plans
4. To develop and facilitate connection and collaboration for Music with Industry and all other creative sectors
5. To foster life-long love for and engagement with Music within our entire community through education and participation

Located at the southern edge of the Korean peninsula, Tongyeong is famous for its beautiful marine surroundings, its many islands and waterways, its lively port town atmosphere and its famous seafood. It is a city of culture, of the arts, and of music, being the home of many distinguished artists. It is also a city where history and ancient traditions are being kept alive.

Tongyeong is a city that knows to celebrate with lively festivals including Tongyeong Arts Festival, the Literature and Theatre Arts Festivals, the Great Battle of Hansan Festival, the Tongyeong Fringe Festivals, and the famous Tongyeong International Music Festival.
Music plays a significant role in Tongyeong. Celebrating its 14th year in 2016, Tongyeong International Music Festival is being considered one of the most influential and well respected contempory music festivals in Asia. Called “the Salzburg Festival of Asia“ by the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Newspaper, it pays tribute to the music of Isang Yun, who was born here in 1917 and later achieved worldwide recognition as one of the prominent composers of the 20th century.

In 2015, Tongyeong has become part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network that 116 cities from 54 countries around the world has joined. In line with UNESCO’s priorities and goals, Tongyeong aims to harness the full potential of culture and creativity as drivers of social inclusion and cohesion, placing music at the core of the city’s identity and development.

Looking into the future, Tongyeong is pushing its boundaries to further develop into a musical hub.

As a City of Music, Tongyeong will focus on:

Active Participation and cooperation

• Actively participate in the activities of the UCCN and in the music sub-network.
• Undertake inter-city projects with other Music cities to harness the full potential of the designation.

Education

• Continue already existing excellent music programs including TIMF School Concert Project and exchange know-how, best practices, and expertise between the cities to further foster music education

Building community

• Implement initiatives intended for children and marginalized people to foster access and participation in cultural life.

Contribution to the world music scene

• Enhance the mobility of artists by involving musicians from the UCCN in the city’s event including the Tongyeong International Music Festival.
• Host international cultural events that will include the Music Cities as special guests in the future.

About the Creative City

Katowice is the capital of the Upper Silesian Region in Southwestern Poland. Deeply marked by the industrial age, Katowice has been investing in culture and creativity to revitalize and regenerate, summarizing its vision by the motto “from heavy industry to creative industries”. This city of 310,000 inhabitants contributes 45 million euros each year in the form of grants to foster the creative economy, predominately focusing on the renovation of cultural spaces largely dedicated to the music sector, which today truly fuels the socio-economic development of the city.

Often considered underground and subversive, with a long tradition of amateur choirs and orchestras, music in Katowice testifies of a rich diversity of genres, from classical to rock, jazz, baroque, electronic and rap. Among the 27 music festivals that liven up the city’s cultural life, three major and world-renowned events – OFF, Tauron and Rawa – annually add around 2.7 million euros to the city’s local economy. Katowice is also recognized across the country as a centre of comprehensive music education. The city is notably home to the Karol Szymanowski Academy, which founded the first Department of Jazz music in Poland.

The Municipality is committed to further nurture cultural and creative industries as levers for the city’s urban renewal and sustainability, especially through its five-year Cultural Zone programme, which is the largest investment in cultural infrastructures in Poland to date. The main achievement of this programme is the establishment of the headquarters of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR) and the Silesian Museum on ancient mine sites. Katowice proves that investing in creativity can transform a once-industrial district into a vibrant creative city.

As a Creative City of Music, Katowice envisages:

• establishing the MusicHUB, an incubator of local and emerging talents and creative entrepreneurs, aiming to strengthen the capacities and increase job opportunities in the music industry, especially targeting youth, women, and people from disadvantaged groups; launching the Baroque Factory, supported by public-private partnerships, aimed to develop wider audiences;
• supporting interdisciplinary research of the SoundLab Innovation Center, designed to improve and sustain the quality of urban life by tackling practical public issues; setting up the Pop Music Development Lab; an international educational platform based on a network of residencies and students;
• enhancing cooperation between Creative Cities of Music and Literature through the Col-LAB-orate project, offering a series of workshops on spoken word and slam poetry to young people from vulnerable groups; and
• involving other Creative Cities of Music to the forthcoming World Music Expo aimed to showcase talented musicians of the Network, exchange experiences and best practices, as well as to further extend the UCCN especially to the global South.

Liverpool is a city where music is our lifeblood.

Liverpool and music are synonymous, and there’s no other city that does it quite like we do. With a rich and diverse music history and talent from across the region, music is at the very heart of what makes Liverpool special. In 2015, Liverpool was designated as a UNESCO City Of Music and confirmed what we all knew, Liverpool is and always will be a music city. 

Liverpool’s musical reputation is built around the city’s innate ability to continue to generate talent like no other place on earth. From The Beatles through to Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Real Thing, Atomic Kitten, Rebecca Ferguson, Echo And The Bunnymen, The La’s, The Coral, CamelPhat, Yousef, the list goes on. That’s before you even look to the stars of today and beyond. With talent like Jamie Webster, Crawlers, The Mysterines, Red Rum Club, Stone, Girls Don’t Sync and Michael Aldag rising amongst the ranks representing the city on national and international platforms. 

To hone these talents, you need the right environment and Liverpool has music pouring out of every street, building and open space you can find. Our rich network of venues, run by people who live and breathe music, are the foundations of what allows us to develop our crafts. From 24 Kitchen Street to Meraki, Invisible Wind Factory, Future Yard, The Jacaranda and so many more amazing grassroots venues, you’re never far from discovering the next big thing. 

Liverpool also knows how to go big, and we promise to throw a party you will never forget. From hosting the 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards to welcoming the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine to the M&S Bank Arena in 2023 we don’t shy away from hosting a party for world class events. That’s not forgetting our incredible festival scene too, from Liverpool Sound City to On The Waterfront, Africa Oye, International Beatle Week, and Creamfields – festival season is like no other in Liverpool. Team all that with the outstanding reputation the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra holds across the world and the lengths people travel to experience a Cream or Circus club night, we’re a city to be beaten.

This is Liverpool. The city where music lives.

About the Creative City: 

As a Creative City of Music, Salvador envisages:

• establishing the Music Museum to showcase the diversity of Brazilian music from the Bahian music to contemporary popular music, and will also serve as an open, creative space for musicians and music professionals;
• fostering access and participation to cultural life and social cohesion by supporting outdoor music events held in public spaces through the Music Spaces initiative based on public-private cooperation;
• promoting Afro-Brazilian culture through the multidisciplinary Afródromo project aimed at creating synergies between music, performing arts and media arts;
• nurturing the mobility of artists within the Network through training programmes and artist residencies; and
• supporting all stakeholders of the music industry through the Salvador Capital of Music Forum, which will also serve as a dialogue platform for Creative Cities of Music to exchange knowledge, best practices and organize joint-events.

City of Artists

About the Creative City

Kingston is a world renowned centre of musical excellence. Birthplace of 6 distinct musical genres: mento, ska, reggae, rocksteady, dub and dancehall and the careers of music legends such as Bob Marley, Dennis Brown, Peter Tosh and Jimmy Cliff, Kingston has had and continues to have great impact on the global music scene.  Apart from having the highest number of music recording studios per capita in the world, Kingston offers a unique sound system culture and a number of live music events. The city boasts large-scale international events such as Reggae Month, Grand Gala Emancipation/Independence (Emancipendence) celebrations, International Reggae Day and conferences geared specifically to industry professionals.

Kingston is also home to theatres, international research centres, as well as the premier institution for the Arts in the English-speaking Caribbean: the Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts.  The dominance of Jamaican culture and creativity has propelled the government to prioritise the creative industries and music in particular as an engine of economic growth.

Multiple influences on Kingston’s musical lanscape include Rastafari, specifically Nyabinghi drumming, and Christian gospel music, all intimately linked to the city’s spiritual & religious life.  The seventeenth  century Euro-classical composer Samuel Felsted was born in Kingston & was an organist at the Kingston Parish Church. Kingston produces more music per capita globally being the birthplace of 6 musical genres created in the 20th century.  Kingston’s sound system culture has influenced Hip Hop, Blue Beat, Reggaeton, among others.

As a Creative City of Music, Kingston seeks to:

• Use the creativity of its people specifically in music, as a driver for sustainable urban development.  In particular, the city is focused on using music and the arts to redevelop and revitalize Kingston’s inner city communities.  This will be achieved through conversion of  derelict buildings for use as creative incubators and performance venues to  promote appreciation for creativity and provide outlets for creative expression.
• Foster cultural exchanges and interaction between Kingston and other Network members through participation in joint programmes and initiatives that meaningfully impact the  creative sectors and change the lives of artists and creators.
• Develop and support pilot projects that have as their focus community building through the arts.
• Facilitate policy and programmatic convergence with the National Development Plan, National Cultural Policy Cultural and Creative Industries Policy to achieve Network missions and objectives.

Bologna is home to the oldest University of the Western world, funded in 1088. The city can boast a vibrant cultural life and an emerging creative economy. It offers a rich and varied cultural scene: in continuity with its glorious past, in Bologna music acquires an extraordinary relevance thanks to the presence of  leading institutions.

The city stands out for its widespread creative fabric dedicated to musical fruition and production, structured in a series of International Festivals of great relevance, promoting a continuous cultural consumption. The remarkable classical music seasons, the contemporary music program, jazz music played in various places, children-targeted initiatives, the presence of song-writers and rock-bands and so much more, they all contribute to make a unique music scene.

Bologna has identified cultural and creative industries as one of the strategic axes for its local development plan. As a City of Music, Bologna will continue to develop specific actions connected to the support for internationalization of music projects that wish to go international. Support to the music industry is further manifested in a constant activity of international relations, communication and promotion. Moreover, new projects in collaboration with Project Incredibol! Creative Innovation of Bologna with a specific theme will be launched open to creative cities in each sector, for the participation in important cultural events in the city.

Since 2021, the City of Bologna has also been working on the Night Plan, a project to implement innovative policies aimed at addressing the management of the city’s nightlife in all its aspects: cultural, social, economic, livability, and safety. A new way of seeing the city 24/7, starting with listening to those who experience the night. The night is no longer considered a void to be contained but a time to be designed, a time in which to live and share rights, opportunities, and responsibilities.

The night, rather than being endured, is lived: rather than allowing the night to be filled with chaos, degradation, and problems, Bologna chooses to support its citizens and operators in reclaiming nighttime and filling it with positive and inclusive cultural contents.

The project aims to make Bologna a city capable of welcoming and enhancing what happens after dark, listening to the needs of those who live, work, or simply pass through. It is based on the belief that a city that thrives at night, with adequate services, active facilities, and well-maintained public spaces, is a more inclusive, dynamic, and resilient city. Among the stakeholders involved, artists, live club and music venue managers, and other music industry professionals also play a key role.

Through surveys and polls, requests and proposals for improving services and public spaces were collected.

This has led to the first concrete actions: the strengthening of night bus lines, the expansion of bike-sharing hubs, the support of street hosts, and the introduction of a walking escort service for those wishing to return home safely. The project is constantly evolving, thanks to an open dialogue between the Administration, cultural operators, business groups, and citizens.