Australia to be discussed at US debut of global Music Cities convention

The National Live Music Office’s Policy Director John Wardle will represent Australia in the US for the second-ever Music Cities symposium.

Wardle will join international government administrators, music activists, non-profit leaders and music makers in Washington D.C on October 25.

The symposium “to discuss, debate and introduce new thinking, action and structure to develop more vibrant, global cities,” follows the inaugural one-day convention in the UK. Among the 50 cities and 20 countries represented on May 13 was three presenters from Australia: Music Victoria CEO Patrick Donovan, David Grice Managing Director of Musitec Creative Cluster Development in Adelaide and Becc Bates, Manager Contemporary Music at Arts SA, Music Development Office.

Next month, Wardle will present Live Music Office's recent survey on Australia’s live sector (The Economic and Cultural Value of Live Music in Australia 2014) which was undertaken with the University of Tasmania, City of Sydney, City of Melbourne and the South Australian Government. The survey found Australia’s live music sector contributed $15.7 billion of value to the Australian community in 2014. It also noted the civic benefits of live music’s contribution enabled nearly 65,000 full and part-time jobs, to the value of $2.2 billion.

Wardle was also invited to present LMO's deliverables on the effectiveness of live music taskforces in developing policy for music cities, as well as the importance of co-regulation roundtables and strategic planning for contemporary music.

"The Music Cities Convention in Washington next month provides an important forum for policy thinkers globally to convene on music development issues and associated strategies, and take home new ideas and working processes from other parts of the globe," Wardle told TMN.

"Whilst the live music sector continues to face challenges from red tape and competition for the entertainment dollar, there's a lot to be proud of nationally across the states and territories with good people delivering strategy, working well with government and actively participating in the cultural development of our cities.

Wardle told TMN global players can learn a great deal from thsi kind of convention. "Much of the current policy is informed and developed now by dialogue between agencies, peak bodies and governments across Australia. To better learn from American and international experiences, meetings are planned with key people from New York City, New Orleans and Nashville, with a serious lineup of presentations from Austin, Canada, Mexico, Northern Ireland, Sweden and more at the convention.  

"The program is mighty," Wardle added. "With the learning's corresponding to make their way into national policy development from the Live Music Office into 2016."

US representatives joining Wardle in October will be Boston Mayor’s office Chief of Policy Joyce Linehan, Seattle Film & Music Office head Kate Becker, Denver Housing Authority executive director Ismael Guerrero, hip-hop producer Nomadic Wax’s founder Ben Herson and Afro-beat orchestra Antibalas’ founder Martin Pena.

Discussions will include, “The Rebirth of New Orleans: Music & the City 10 Years On,” by Treme writer Lolis Elie; case studies on music’s role in urban development in Gothenburg, Sweden, Ottowa, Guadalajara and Austin; and a panel discussion on “Aligning Global Music Strategies.”

Music Cities was set up by Martin Elbourne, founder of The Great Escape, along with global music market development agency Sound Diplomacy.