Overview
Bring down the mainsail, Auckland has been stripped of its City of Sails tag in exchange for a new title: City of Music.
The label came as part of an announcement this week from the cultural arm of the United Nations, UNESCO, which unveiled 12 cities as designated music destinations.
UNESCO's Creative Cities Network launched in 2004 to "promote social, economic and cultural development among cities who have identified creativity as a strategic factor and enabler for sustainable urban development."
Auckland is the second New Zealand city to be accepted into the Creative Cities Network after Dunedin was designated a City of Literature in 2014. Since its inauguration, the city has welcomed a City of Literature website, a booklet highlighting Dunedin's journey as "a small city with a big story to tell", and provided opportunities for writing residencies around the world.
Together with Recorded Music NZ and royalty collection agency APRA, Auckland Council made the bid for the title to strengthen music opportunities in the city. Auckland joins 116 members from 180 countries around the world covering seven creative fields.
The finer details haven't yet been announced for the initiative, though it has been suggested that it will provide opportunities for collaboration between the local music industry and other member cities around the globe.
Closer to home, two of the city's most popular music venues, Golden Dawn: Tavern of Power and The King's Arms Tavern, are both set to close in 2018. The latter has been operating as a live music venue for the past 2o years and is due to be flattened under the Auckland Unitary Plan early next year.
Image: Laneway Festival Auckland