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The City of London and London Music Office are excited to share a new video and webpage that celebrates London’s UNESCO City of Music designation.

In November of 2021, the Canadian Commission for UNESCO announced that London had been designated a UNESCO City of Music. London is Canada’s first city to receive this designation.

After the designation was announced, the London Music Office has been taking the next steps to engage the music community and create an educational campaign about what the honour means for London.

“When our city received this international designation, it’s important to look back at the success London has had educating and developing artists and engineers, supporting award winning local festivals, and hosting national events,” says Cory Crossman, London’s Music Industry Development Officer. “We’re also excited for what could come next for London’s music community, and the UNESCO City of Music designation is the start of a bright future.”

Over the coming months, the London Music Office will continue to work with artists, engineers, venues, event organizers and educational institutions to plan for future local and international initiatives now possible with the designation.

The specific areas of focus for London include supporting music incubation, creating inclusive communities, strengthening the relationship between music and film, participating in music city exchanges, attracting music conferences, and developing London’s media arts sector.

As part of the next stage to recognize London’s UNESCO City of Music designation, a new logo has been unveiled and will be added to the Cities of Music network. The logo was created by local artist Katie Wilhelm, an award-winning Indigenous designer and supporter of local music.

A new webpage has also been created to share information about London’s designation. More information can be found online at www.londoncityofmusic.ca

The City of London joins the 295 existing member cities and 59 other Cities of Music in UNESCO's Creative Cities Network (UCCN) across 90 countries. Members have made a commitment to being part of the network to share best practices, develop partnerships that promote creativity and the cultural industries, strengthen participation in cultural life and integrate culture in urban development plans. Member cities also commit to leading the charge towards implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the local level.

Created in 2004, the UCCN is organized into seven fields: crafts and folk art, design, film, gastronomy, literature, media arts and music. London is now one of three other Canadian cities that are also part of the network: Montreal (design), Quebec (literature), and Toronto (media arts). 

Watch the new video about London’s UNESCO City of Music designation: 

(Above) London’s UNESCO City of Music logo was created by local artist Katie Wilhelm and will be added to the Cities of Music network.