Could Sheffield be the next UNESCO City of Music?

Sheffield should seek to gain UNESCO City of Music status to celebrate its "rich musical heritage", a report has said.

University of Sheffield researchers said the city had more than 120 music venues, supporting 2,100 equivalent full-time jobs - and could boast such talents as Pulp, Arctic Monkeys and Bring Me The Horizon.

UNESCO recognition would see Sheffield stand alongside Glasgow, Belfast and Liverpool as part of the body's network of cities that have "identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development".

The university's Neil McSweeney said: "Our research shows Sheffield does not merely produce music; it keeps it alive."

The university said its report had examined every facet of the city's musical heritage, "from a 250-year-old sword-dancing tradition through to the massive crowds of the modern Tramlines festival and beyond".

But it called for support and investment for the city's music scene to survive modern pressures.

Large crowds of musicians from Sheffield gathered outside City Hall to call for recognition as a City of Music [University of Sheffield]

McSweeney, senior music teacher who led the research, said talent in the city had evolved from centuries of making, listening to and innovating in music.

He said: "Original, generational talent of the type this city has produced time and time again does not emerge from a vacuum."

McSweeney, who is co-founder and director of Hudson Records and a practising singer-songwriter, added that a dedicated Music Office with a clear mandate and "sustained public funding" was essential in light of challenges to the local industry.

"From financial pressures on grassroots venues, to the shifting economics of global streaming, the challenges are significant," he said.

The idea of a city Music Office is not new.

In 2021, in his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham oversaw the creation of a Greater Manchester Music Commission which has the aim of growing and developing local talent as well as promoting music from the region on the international stage.

In 2022, Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotheram invested £1.6m in a music office to provide guidance, support and a single point of contact for the music sector in the region.

Performers from Tracks Sheffield at Sheffield Winter Garden [University of Sheffield]

Matt Ritchie, of the Sheffield Grassroots Music Network, said becoming an official City of Music was "genuinely achievable" and the appetite already existed - but there needed to be a dedicated team to coordinate the campaign.

Local artist Pete McKee, who performs with comedy folk band The Everly Pregnant Brothers, hailed the plan, saying: "Sheffield is a city of music. It's a city of art as well.

"It should have been a city of culture permanently for the last 20 years.

"We are the most creative city in the country by far because we've got the art and the music."

George Morton, Musical Director of the Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra, said the city's musical diversity should be recognised.

"If you think about other cities, they're really well known for a specific genre of music.

"But Sheffield's got all sorts of musical life here and has done for the last five decades - so it should be celebrated, shared and made official, shouldn't it?"

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The report: Sheffield - City of Music