Celebrating 10 years!
2025 marks 10 years since Adelaide was officially recognised as Australia’s first, and only, UNESCO City of Music.
In 2015, we joined a worldwide network of amazing, innovative, cities that celebrate and prioritise creativity and culture for their power to transform societies, strengthen local communities, forge a sense of identity and belonging, and increase the attractiveness of cities.
Since then, we have named laneways after homegrown heroes, helped acts get to their gig on time with our dedicated live music loading zones, entertained thousands with our free community concerts, supported venues and artists through COVID, and backed creative projects that have boosted careers and rewarded audiences. We’ve mapped every music venue across the city to inform our City Plan and are supporting local businesses to improve access for community members with a disability.
To get our 10th anniversary party started, in November 2024 we launched Adelaide: Your Guide to Our City of Music, a handy pocket guide to music venues, year-round festivals, resources and experiences. We also brought our music community together for a Live Music Forum to discuss the strengths, challenges, opportunities and shared vision for a flourishing live music scene to guide Council’s next live music action plan.
UNESCO City of Music highlights
We’ve got some exciting things planned throughout 2025 to share our history, support and showcase our diverse local talent and venues, and bring our community together. Stay tuned to this page for announcements and highlights of this milestone year.
Sound-check’s over. We’re ready to play. 1,2,3,4!
Be a part of the festivities!
The City of Adelaide is celebrating Make Music Day on Saturday 21 June 2025 with a mini festival that is big on showcasing our diverse music community, cultural hubs and performance venues.
If you are a city-based venue or an artist who would like to be involved, register your interest before Monday 21 April 2025.
