Creative Cities Network Meeting – Local ecosystem

London joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as the first Canadian City of Music in 2021 and in the last week of February 2024, London, Ontario hosted the international meeting of the UNESCO Creative Cities of Music.

Last week we published a brief overview of the event and this article takes a closer in the local partners present at the event.

Local Partners

The Creative Cities Network Meeting was hosted by Cory Crossman, director of the London Music Office. The office is a division within Tourism London which in turn works closely with Cultural Services at the City of London. 

The leadership team set the tone of the meeting. Robin Armstead, manager of Cultural Services at the City of London spoke about the importance of the UNESCO designation in her portfolio and how it has an holistic approach integrating several SDGs, including SDG3, SDG4, SDG5, SDG8, SDG9, SDG10.

Cheryl Finn, general manager at Tourism London, shared about the first Strategic Plan developed for Tourism London and its four guiding principles: diverse, trailblazing, creative and collaborative. We also learned about the Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) , one of the main funding mechanisms to support tourism industry and visitors in London. It is a 50-50 split between the City of London and Tourism London. Cheryl understands that this investment translates into social benefits but recognizes that is not always simple to measure the value of social impact.

Graham Henderson is one of the core partners. While working at Music Canada, he developed the Music Cities Toolkit. Currently working as the CEO of the London Chamber of Commerce, Graham brings a wealth of knowledge for leveraging the designation to boost economic development with a strategy that also recognizes the importance of musicians. 

“The Music Cities Toolkit has been designed to provide Canadian chambers of commerce with a roadmap and guide to activate the power of music in their city.”

Music Canada

In his research of different music cities, after identifying that Austin, USA had a $1.5Billion industry, many of the local players were surprised, asking why that doesn’t trickle down to local community. Graham reminded us that “a music-friendly city is not the same as a musician-friendly city”. The London Economic Development Corporation was also present to support the meeting and explore opportunities for collaboration.

When we talk about big social and economic impact in the London music industry, Sunfest, celebrating its 30th edition in 2024 and going strong, is the first name that comes to mind. Co-directed by Alfredo Caxaj (founder) and Mercedes Caxaj, Sunfest attracts thousands of visitors to London every year for a public and free festival with 225+ food and artisanal vendor market. Turning downtown London into one of the most vibrant places in Canada. The festival has five stages and welcomes approximately 40 groups of musicians during four days, half of them from Canada and the other half from all over the world. An inclusive event for attendees and performers alike. 

But Sunfest is more than a big festival, there is also a concert series where the team works relentlessly bringing talented musicians to London all year round. Alfredo and his team is very intentional about creating business opportunities for musicians and they and they work with Canadian delegates to develop partnerships that open doors for musicians.

With all this diversity, London might not be known by its distinct voice or sound, however, Cory Crossman remarked how London is the breeding ground of many of the most talented and accomplished music technicians and sound engineers thanks to the outstanding educational facilities here including the Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology, Fanshawe College’s Music Industry Arts program and Don Wright Faculty of Music at Western.

Another long standing local player in the music ecosystem is Mario Circelli, founder and chair of the London Music Hall of Fame, Canada’s only city specific Music Hall of Fame, shared about their work in supporting emerging and established local talent since 2002. 

We also heard from  innovative new enterprises. Matt Sobhy, Operations Director & Founder of RnRBnB presented abou Canada’s first Rock’n Roll BNB where musicians can play, record, create and stay.

Finally, Luis Patricio, SDG Cities co-lead at Pillar Nonprofit Network, shared some insights about connecting the SDGs to the London City of Music Initiative and some of their work at Pillar Nonprofit to educate and integrate the SDGs in organizations or projects.

As a network organization located downtown with a large co-working space, hundreds of members, in-depth knowledge of the SDGs, ongoing partnerships with several of the local partners and focused on enhancing the operational capabilities of the impact sector. Pillar Nonprofit can play an important role in the UNESCO designation through teaching, connecting and advocating. Our burning question is:

“How can the UNESCO designation help advance environmental, social and economic sustainability in our cities?”