Urban Music Studies

Scholars Network

23/05/2017
by Alenka Barber-Kersovan
Comments Off on UK Live Music Census

UK Live Music Census

The UK’s first ever live music census – a ‘Springwatch’ for live music. The Census covers all genres and takes a broad definition of live music to include events featuring DJs.

A nationwide online survey for musicians, venues, promoters and audiences is open and collecting data until 31 May. The survey should help measuring live music’s cultural and economic value, discover what challenges the industry is facing, and inform policy to help it flourish. More…

05/05/2017
by Alenka Barber-Kersovan
Comments Off on Music Cities Network

Music Cities Network

Music Cities Network is a new public/private network dedicated to improving communication and cooperation, sharing research and knowledge, exploring policy and advocacy, and networking for policy makers, city leaders and all other music city stakeholders. The network is aimed at making cities wealthier, healthier, livable and more international through music.

http://www.musiccitiesnetwork.com/about-mcn https://www.facebook.com/musiccitiesnetwork/

03/04/2017
by R. Kuchar
Comments Off on Music Cities Edited Collection – Call for Chapter Proposals

Music Cities Edited Collection – Call for Chapter Proposals

From the physical spaces in which music activity takes place, to the mythologizing of city-specific music scenes, the city has long played a vital role in the development and sustaining of music scenes. In recent years there has been a concerted effort to cultivate and nurture musical activity as a key driver for urban economic development and for city-specific tourism. Cities around the world are now looking to cultivate and support music activity in a bid to activate new forms of cultural and creative identity. This has occurred off the back of similar creative and cultural cities movements, and works to move beyond the mythologizing of particular cities music scenes in order to legitimise music as a place-specific cultural output which contributes significantly to local identities as well as to local economies. To this end, music is positioned as making a vital contribution to the cultural and economic fabric of a city, and is viewed as a critical way through which both locals and tourists can gauge, and engage with, a city’s cultural and creative identities. In order to foster this, an array of heritage and planning accords, live music regulation, tourism initiatives and even tax exemptions have been put in place, and an array of industry and government developed place-specific reports and activation ‘how-to’ manuals have been developed in order to understand the scope of place-specific music activity and the ways in which it can be cultivated and supported.

With a particular focus on heritage, planning, tourism and regulatory measures, we invite rigorous place-specific case studies exploring, both empirically and conceptually, the ways in which the music cities movement has emerged globally, yet is grounded in a variety of local urban, cultural and political contexts.

Proposals for chapters should consist of a title and an abstract of no more than 250 words, along with author name(s), bio (of no more than 150 words) affiliation, and e-mail address. It is envisage that published chapters will be 6,500 – 7,000 words in length. We have a very enthusiastic academic publisher interested in pursuing this collection with us.

Proposals should be e-mailed to musiccitiesbook@gmail.com by May 15, 2017.

Editors:

Dr. Christina Ballico (Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre, Griffith University)
Dr. Allan Watson (Department of Geography, Loughborough University)

More information: Website

P.S.: For getting some inspiration have a look on our Music City Volume published in 2014.

28/03/2017
by R. Kuchar
Comments Off on Symposium ‘Tourism and the Night’ – July 14-15th – London

Symposium ‘Tourism and the Night’ – July 14-15th – London

Not only Music and City, but also relevant in this context:

The Department of History, Sociology and Criminology, in conjunction with the Tourism and Events Research Group at the University of Westminster, are seeking papers for a two-day symposium on tourism and the night.

Since the 1990s a number of cities have promoted nightlife as a central component of their tourism strategy and have adopted cultural and economic policies to brand their cities as desirable places for night-time activities. This two-day symposium will address the following questions:

  • What impact does tourism at night have on local communities? What opportunities and/or tensions arise between tourists and residents?
  • How might tourism at night open up new forms of sociability, community, urban design, events and leisure?
  • What alternative forms of nocturnal tourism are emerging alongside traditional nightlife activities?
  • What is the relationship between night-time tourism and processes such as gentrification?
  • How might policy makers better manage and develop night-time tourism strategies?
  • What types of policies have been adopted in order to reduce potentially negative impacts and empower different social actors of the ‘nocturnal tourism city’?

This is an interdisciplinary conference and we welcome papers from a wide range of disciplines.

Please send abstracts of 300 words to Adam Eldridge on a.c.eldridge@westminster.ac.uk before 13 April 2017.

There is a small number of travel bursaries available for PhD and recent graduates. If you wish to apply for a bursary, please state so in your abstract.

More information: Conference Website

10/03/2017
by R. Kuchar
Comments Off on Music Cities Hackathon – March 31st-Apr.1st – Berlin

Music Cities Hackathon – March 31st-Apr.1st – Berlin

First Music Cities Hackathon

For the first time in Berlin, Sound Diplomacy hosts a Music Cities Hackathon in collaboration with the Technology Foundation Berlin and Spielfeld Digital Hub. The Music Cities Hackathon offers a space for experts, entrepreneurs & students from different disciplines to come up with innovative and sustainable solutions to tackle the challenges that cities worldwide are facing. The target audience will be experts/students with backgrounds in disciplines including music, programming, architecture, urban planning, creative industries, design and science. The best solutions will not only be presented at the Music Cities Convention, but as part of the prize the teams will also be offered professional support to further develop their ideas.

Programme

  • March 31st: 6.30 p.m. Opening & Reception
  • April 1st:  9 a.m. – 10 p.m. Hackday & Awarding

More information: www.musiccitiesconvention.com/hackathon

 

10/03/2017
by R. Kuchar
Comments Off on Music Cities Convention – April 4th, 2017 – Berlin

Music Cities Convention – April 4th, 2017 – Berlin

Music City Convention goes Berlin

Music Cities Convention is the largest and most extensive gathering on Music Cities. The conference brings together leaders from governments, cities and regions, academics, organisations and the music scene to discuss, debate and introduce new thinking.

The fourth edition of Music Cities Convention will be held on April 4th, 2017 in Rotes Rathaus (City Hall), Berlin. Topic this year is “Started from the Bottom, Now we’re Here: Music and Urban Development”.

Speakers are, among others Maria Vassilakou – Vice Mayor and Executive City Council, Vienna, Martyn Ware – Human League and Founder of Illustious, Dr. Lee – Master planner for Platform Changdong 61 in Seoul, Denai Moore – Musician, Charles Landry – Author, The Creative City, Michail Stangl – Director Boiler Room, Germany, Dr. Torsten Wöhlert – Permanent Secretary for Culture, Berlin, Kat Frankie – Musician, Angela Dorgan – CEO, First Music Contact, Michail Stangl – Boiler Room Germany.

More information: www.musiccitiesconvention.com

Convention organizers offer a 20% discount on conference tickets for ‘urban music studies’ blog abonnents. For discounts contact: katerina@sounddiplomacy.com

What do you think?

 

Urban String – Breaking conventions of classical and pop?

09/02/2017 by Alenka Barber-Kersovan | Comments Off on Urban String – Breaking conventions of classical and pop?

Ensemble Resonanz, an independent chamber orchestra situated in Hamburg, invented the program ‘Urban String’. Urban String is a series of concerts taking place in the orchestra´s own ‘classical underground club’ named Resonanzraum in St. Pauli. The program not only combines classical and popular elements, ‘Urban String’ is a good example for how the distinction of an urban music activity beyond traditional settings and conventions of the classical as well as the popular performance is transcending. A starting point for a new kind of urban music scene?  More on ‘Urban String’ and Ensemble Resonanz

30/01/2017
by R. Kuchar
Comments Off on Update Resources Section: Bibliography of Articles related to Urban Music Studies

Update Resources Section: Bibliography of Articles related to Urban Music Studies

Bibliography completed! Have a look on the site ‘Articles’ in the Resources section. We just added a quite long list of international contributions dealing with Music and the City. In connection with books and expertises,  we now have completed a basic bibliography of Urban Music Studies that will be updated on a regular basis. In case you are missing anything, especially some of your own publications, just tell us!

Update Resources Section: Bibliography of Expertises and other related Work

In the resources sections, we just added some sources of expertises and other related work referring to Urban Music Studies. Have a look at some international as well as German publications:

To bibliography of expertises and other related work

17/01/2017
by R. Kuchar
Comments Off on New Book by Giacomo Bottà: Invisible Landscapes. Popular Music and Spatiality

New Book by Giacomo Bottà: Invisible Landscapes. Popular Music and Spatiality

The multilingual volume “Invisible Landscapes” comprises chapters about heterogeneous popular music practices, largely, but not exclusively, from Europe. Addressing the relation between popular music practices and political struggles, postcolonialities, dense and layered urban settings and a certain understanding of cultural heritage, this volume turns noise into sound, revealing the invisible landscapes of Europe.