UNESCO's City of Music programme is part of the wider Creative Cities Network.
The Network launched in 2004, and has member cities in seven creative fields. The other fields are: Crafts and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, and Media Arts. [1]
To be approved as a City of Music, cities need to meet a number of criteria set by UNESCO. [2]
Designated UNESCO Cities of Music share similar characteristics:
In March 2006, Seville was designated as the first City of Music. Bologna was named approximately two months later. [3]
Seville has a "legendary Flamenco scene," and UNESCO lists Flamenco as an "intangible cultural heritage." [4]
Hamamatsu is the founding city of musical instrument companies Yamaha, Kawai, and Roland. It has also an Museum of Musical Instruments. [5]
Liverpool—"the city that spawned The Beatles"—earned its designation due to music's "place in the heart of the city's life." UNESCO also noted a "clearly defined" music, education, and skills strategy for young people. [6]
Idanha-a-Nova "lives by the rhythm of music," Ghent is a "city full of culture," and Auckland is the "beating heart of New Zealand's music industry." [7] [8] [9]
Adelaide is "sophisticated, cultured, and neat-casual," Daegu is a "pleasant and progressive place," and Leiria is an "agreeable mixture of medieval and modern." [10] [11] [12]
As of 2021, fifty Cities of Music have been designated by UNESCO.
Nineteen of the participating cities are European, ten are Asian and Middle Eastern. South America and North America each have six, Africa has four, and two have been designated in Oceania.
Seven countries have two member cities. India, Colombia, Portugal, and the United Kingdom are the only countries to have three designated cities.
The Cities of Music are:
Flamenco is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Murcia. In a wider sense, the term is used to refer to a variety of both contemporary and traditional musical styles typical of southern Spain. Flamenco is closely associated to the gitanos of the Romani ethnicity who have contributed significantly to its origination and professionalization. However, its style is uniquely Andalusian and flamenco artists have historically included Spaniards of both gitano and non-gitano heritage.
In Spain, music has a long history. It has played an important role in the development of Western music, and has greatly influenced Latin American music. Spanish music is often associated with traditional styles such as flamenco and classical guitar. While these forms of music are common, there are many different traditional musical and dance styles across the regions. For example, music from the north-west regions is heavily reliant on bagpipes, the jota is widespread in the centre and north of the country, and flamenco originated in the south. Spanish music played a notable part in the early developments of western classical music, from the 15th through the early 17th century. The breadth of musical innovation can be seen in composers like Tomás Luis de Victoria, styles like the zarzuela of Spanish opera, the ballet of Manuel de Falla, and the classical guitar music of Francisco Tárrega. Nowadays commercial pop music dominates.
The Royal Conservatoire is a conservatoire in The Hague, providing higher education in music and dance. The conservatoire was founded by King William I in 1826, making it the oldest conservatoire in the Netherlands. Since September 2021, the KC is housed in the Amare building in the centre of the Hague, together with the Residentie Orkest and the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT).
Hamamatsu is a city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. In September 2023, the city had an estimated population of 780,128 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, with a population density of 500/km2 (1,300/sq mi) over the total urban area of 1,558.06 km2 (601.57 sq mi).
Cultural tourism is a type of tourism activity in which the visitor's essential motivation is to learn, discover, experience and consume the tangible and intangible cultural attractions/products in a tourism destination. These attractions/products relate to a set of distinctive material, intellectual, spiritual, and emotional features of a society that encompasses arts and architecture, historical and cultural heritage, culinary heritage, literature, music, creative industries and the living cultures with their lifestyles, value systems, beliefs and traditions.
An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues for musical performance, workshop areas, educational facilities, technical equipment, etc.
Music of Adelaide includes music relating to the city of Adelaide, South Australia. It includes all genres of both live and recorded music by artists born or living in the city, live music events happening in the city, and other aspects of the music industry relating to Adelaide.
Judith "Jude" Pamela Kelly,, is a British theatre director and producer. She is a director of the WOW Foundation, which organises the annual Women of the World Festival, founded in 2010 by Kelly. From 2006 to 2018, she was Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre in London.
Cultural policy is the government actions, laws and programs that regulate, protect, encourage and financially support activities related to the arts and creative sectors, such as painting, sculpture, music, dance, literature, and filmmaking, among others and culture, which may involve activities related to language, heritage and diversity. The idea of cultural policy was developed at UNESCO in the 1960s. Generally, this involves governments setting in place processes, legal classifications, regulations, legislation and institutions which promote and facilitate cultural diversity and creative expressions in a range of art forms and creative activities. Cultural policies vary from one country to another, but generally they aim to improve the accessibility of arts and creative activities to citizens and promote the artistic, musical, ethnic, sociolinguistic, literary and other expressions of all people in a country. In some countries, especially since the 1970s, there is an emphasis on supporting the culture of Indigenous peoples and marginalized communities and ensuring that cultural industries are representative of a country's diverse cultural heritage and ethnic and linguistic demographics.
The cante flamenco, meaning "flamenco singing", is one of the three main components of flamenco, along with toque and baile (dance). Because the dancer is front and center in a flamenco performance, foreigners often assume the dance is the most important aspect of the art form — in fact, it is the cante which is the heart and soul of the genre. A cante singer is a cantaor or cantaora.
The Orchid Ensemble is a Canadian musical ensemble formed in 1997 in Vancouver. It is led by Lan Tung from Taiwan on erhu, with Yu-Chen Wang from Taiwan on guzheng and Jonathan Bernard from Canada on various percussion instruments. Former guzheng players include Haiqiong Deng, Mei Han, Geling Jiang, and Bei Bei He.
A creative city is a city where creativity is a strategic factor in urban development. A creative city provides places, experiences, attractions, and opportunities to foster creativity among its citizens.
UNESCO's City of Literature programme is part of the wider Creative Cities Network.
UNESCO's City of Film project is part of the wider Creative Cities Network.
Shōji Kojima is a Japanese flamenco dancer. Along with Yoko Komatsubara, Kojima is credited as instrumental in popularising flamenco in Japan.
Daniel Baron Cohen is a British playwright, community-theatre director, cultural theorist and arts-educator, presently living and working in Brazil.
UNESCO's Design Cities project is part of the wider Creative Cities Network. The Network launched in 2004, and has member cities in seven creative fields. The other fields are: Crafts and Folk Art, Music, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, and Media Arts.
UNESCO's City of Gastronomy project is part of the wider Creative Cities Network. The Network was launched in 2004, and organizes member cities into seven creative fields: Crafts and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts, and Music.
UNESCO's City of Crafts and Folk Arts project is part of the wider Creative Cities Network, founded in 2004, which designates cities worldwide that have made unique contributions to the field of crafts and folk arts.
UNESCO's City of Media Arts project is part of the wider Creative Cities Network. The Network launched in 2004, and has member cities in seven creative fields. The other fields are: Crafts and Folk Art, Music, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts and Design Cities.
