The City of Music
Arts
THE capital city of South Australia is bidding to become the next UNESCO City of Music on the back of its tradition of music festivals and events.
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The bid, submitted by South Australian Arts Minister Jack Snelling, would place Adelaide alongside other music cities including Seville, Bologna, Hamamatsu, Glasgow, Gent, Mannheim, Bogota, Brazzaville and Hannover.
“Adelaide has a long and proud history in music and generating world-class musicians, we have terrific and growing music festivals and the international recognition that would come with being an internationally recognised city of music would be invaluable,” Snelling said.
Adelaide Festival Centre Chief Executive Officer and Artistic Director Douglas Gautier said the bid would allow greater collaboration with other cultural cities across the world.
“The Adelaide Festival Centre has been happy to lead this bid, because membership of this UNESCO cultural cities network will bring many benefits to our city and recognise the great centre for music making that Adelaide is,” Gautier said.
The UNESCO City of Music designation is part of the organisations Creative Cities Network, that includes cites that excel in everything from design to literature to food.
The bid was also endorsed by Adelaide Lord Mayor Martin Haese, who said that live music was central to a thriving, liveable city and contributed to economic development.
“Adelaide is regarded throughout the world as a cultural city, and becoming a UNESCO City of Music would position Adelaide as an exciting and innovative city for musicians, where music is integrated with economic and business development,” Martin said.
“It would allow us to showcase the initiatives stemming from Council’s Live Music Action Plan that are already underway in the city to support live music, share knowledge on a global scale, and cultivate innovation.”
In the past year South Australia launched a Music Development Office that works closely with the Musitec cluster to promote music in Adelaide.
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