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Dates Announced for Upcoming Alberta Music Cities Convention

DATES ANNOUNCED FOR UPCOMING ALBERTA MUSIC CITIES CONVENTION

HYBRID GLOBAL GATHERING WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE CITIES OF CALGARY AND EDMONTON, AS WELL AS VIRTUALLY, FROM SEPTEMBER 15-17, 2021.

(May 27, 2021 – Alberta, Canada) – September 15-17 will see global policymakers, music industry professionals, academics, and city leaders meet in Calgary and Edmonton, as well as virtually, for the 10th edition of Music Cities Convention, the largest and most extensive global gathering on the topic of music cities.

Scaling Up Music Cities: Cultivating the Future of Alberta will be the theme of the 2021 edition of the annual conference, which is being hosted in Canada for the first time ever. Hosted alongside West Anthem, National Music Centre and Alberta Music, the three-day event follows the publication of the West Anthem Music Ecosystem Study in October 2020, and will provide a stage to further the conversation around music’s pivotal role in cities, something the host organizations have been advocating for years.

Featuring two full convention days and a carefully curated line-up of international speakers, Music Cities Convention will tackle some of the challenges highlighted in the 2020 report and provide solutions to advance the music ecosystem in Alberta, as well as in other cities and places around the world.

“The National Music Centre and West Anthem successfully bid on this international convention that we are pleased to bring to the province at a time of tremendous opportunity,” said Andrew Mosker, Co-Founder and Chair, West Anthem and President and CEO, National Music Centre. “West Anthem has been a force of advocacy in Alberta prior to and especially during the pandemic. The work that was done with the West Anthem Music Ecosystem Study coupled with this convention will help build a stronger, more coordinated and resilient ecosystem. Inviting global thought leaders to share their ideas at this pivotal moment will enable important next steps on the advancing of recovery through music in Alberta and around the world.”

This is the first Canadian and 10th global edition of the Music Cities Convention, with previous editions hosted in the USA, UK, Germany, Australia, China and South Korea. The global gathering will take place on September 15-17, 2021 and will follow a new, hybrid format with talks being held concurrently in Calgary and Edmonton, as well as streamed worldwide. Alberta residents are invited to attend the event in person in the city of their choice, while out-of-province and international delegates will be able to join the event online thanks to a top-class event platform. The organizers are hoping to be able to release further in-person tickets for national and international attendees in the near future.

Luke Jones, CEO of Music Cities Events, outlines the importance of this event: “With the world slowly opening up and cities exploring new, more sustainable models to build our future on, music and the creative industries are now being more and more recognized as integral elements to recovery and to the societies of tomorrow. We are thrilled to be taking the Music Cities Convention to Alberta and to be furthering the conversation around such timely and important topics alongside our partners West Anthem, National Music Centre, and Alberta Music.”

Tickets and more information on the 10th global Music Cities Convention are available on the event’s official website musiccitiesevents.com/alberta-mcc-2021.

ABOUT MUSIC CITIES CONVENTION
Music Cities Convention is the biggest global event exploring the uses and importance of music in the development of cities all around the world. From community development to education, economic development, employment and health, music impacts a number of issues prevalent in city planning. Music Cities Convention will bring together the top minds from municipalities, brands, real estate, health, events, academia, non-profits, the music industry and more, to introduce new thinking, action and structure to develop more vibrant, global cities.

ABOUT MUSIC CITIES EVENTS
Music Cities Events organizes world-leading international conferences on the topic of music cities, produces the leading international awards ceremony on music cities, and runs the Music Cities Community, the first-ever platform for professionals in all industries using music to create more value in towns, cities & places. In everything Music Cities Events does it aims to showcase the best uses of music by individuals, organizations and cities all over the world.

ABOUT WEST ANTHEM
Recognizing the untapped economic benefits of the music industry in our province, and through the report, Fertile Ground, which was commissioned, funded and published by the National Music Centre and the Scotlyn Foundation in 2014, West Anthem was established to help stimulate the growth and sustainability of Alberta’s music industry. Its objectives are to develop a comprehensive understanding of the economic profile of Alberta’s music cluster, to build the business capacity of the music industry, to utilize Alberta’s music industry as a key economic driver and a vehicle for diversification, and to establish and implement a live music strategy for Alberta through venue mapping and audience profiling. For more information, please visit westanthem.com.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL MUSIC CENTRE
The National Music Centre (NMC) has a mission to amplify the love, sharing, and understanding of music and is preserving and celebrating Canada’s music story inside its home at Studio Bell in Calgary’s East Village. A registered charity with programs that include exhibitions, artist development, performance and education, NMC is inspiring a new generation of music lovers. For more information about NMC’s onsite activities, please visit studiobell.ca. To check out the NMC experience online, including video-on-demand performances, made-in-Canada stories, and highly entertaining educational content, visit amplify.nmc.ca.

Media contacts:
Camila Anino, Marketing & Partnerships Manager
Music Cities Events
T. +34 673 013 680
camila@sounddiplomacy.com | @musiccitiesevents

Julijana Capone, Senior Publicist
National Music Centre
T. 403.543.5123 
julijana.capone@nmc.ca
| @nmc_canada