Cultural value and urban governance

Abstract

A city of diverse use and function is predicated on informed urban policymaking that can equitably negotiate competing economic and cultural uses of urban space. I investigate such urban policymaking in relation to liquor licensing and its mediating effect between venue-based live music and amenable residential and business districts in Melbourne, Australia. Firstly, I explore the positive externalities that flow from the operations of urban music venues, specifically the Tote Hotel and its integral place in Melbourne’s music community. Secondly, I examine how such value can be integrated with policymaking spheres that are typically dominated by economic considerations, analysing a specific instance of participatory urban governance that developed around liquor licensing in Melbourne. I conclude by evaluating the role of political agendas in achieving favourable cultural policy outcomes, inferring that cultural organizations with less political and economic relevance may be excluded from the policymaking process and, thus, the shaping of urban space.

UK–Asia music business collaborations: Liverpool Sound City, Modern Sky and Zandari Festa

“…Many of the live music studies also focus on a specific locality or city, for example, live music policy in Melbourne (Homan, 2010; Martin, 2017) and rock clubs in New York City (Holt, 2013), because place is seen as the centre of the economic and cultural networks, from an ecological point of view (Behr et al, 2016). Similarly, examples from the British live music and music festival studies include a survey on British pop festivals and tourism (Stone, 2007), UK music festival sponsorship (Anderton, 2011), managing the mystification of festivity of Glastonbury (Flinn & Frew, 2013), a comparative study of visitor motivations for attending the Glastonbury and V Festival (Gelder & Robinson, 2009), to name a few.…”

Ecomusicology: A socioecological dimension towards acoustically sustainable residential buildings

“…Music industry no doubt has potential for social and cultural sustainability. The roles of music in the transition towards social and cultural sustainability have been recognised (Barbaroux et al, 2019;Hallam, 2015;Hawkes, 2001;Martin, 2017;van der Hoeven & Hitters, 2019;Wolcott, 2016). This is seen in the form of social equity, environmental responsibility, cultural heritage and economic viability (Hawkes, 2001;Petocz et al, 2014).…”

“…Music also embraces a multilevel interconnection with organism, population, and community so as to ensure cultural and ecological sustainability (Peter Petocz et al, 2014;Titon, 2009b), to sustain urban and rural community building as well as the healing process of individuals and communities (Ogunrinade, 2015), and can act as biocultural resource that is renewable (Titon, 2009a). Furthermore, music especially live music is a source of tourist attraction, offers a sense of belonging and contributes to a thriving cultural environment (Martin, 2017). Aside skills development, Hallam (2015) observed that music plays a key role in the lives of most people, especially adolescence, and is frequently used to manipulate emotions and modes.…”

Challenges facing regional live music venues: A case study of venues in Armidale, NSW

“…Other than the weekly live music organised by a couple of the registered clubs in the area for their patrons and local hotels (primarily soloists and duos with occasional ticketed shows), venue-based popular live music has existed for the past few years on an ad hoc basis, with pop-up events occurring intermittently. With the loss of these key venues and the decline in music-based venues generally across Australia (see Johnson and Homan 2003; Kovacevic 2016), the cultural vibrancy and socioeconomic benefits live music provides the community in which it operates (see Australian Council 2014; Hoeven and Hitters 2019; Martin 2017; Skånland 2013) were considered by many to be in jeopardy.…”