News

The City of London has released the London City of Music UNESCO Action Plan Dashboard that reflects the initiatives and impact of the City of Music designation. The dashboard was debuted in the London UNESCO City of Music Action Plan Update report in Februrary 2025. 

To support transparent, consistent, and outcomes-based reporting, the City tracks both activity delivery and performance metrics aligned with UNESCO priorities and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This approach allows the City to assess not only what has been delivered, but also the scale and impact of activity across the music ecosystem. 

The following criteria has been placed on the information that is tracked by the City of London. Information collected includes:

a) A City of London service area or City staff led or contributed to the event/project.

b) The event/project received a financial contribution from the City of London, including direct municipal funding and/or grants such as Community Arts Investment Program, the London Community Recovery Network, the City Community Heritage Investment Program, the London Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) Fund, the Tourism London MAT Fund, or other City-supported funding streams.

c) An artist or group (e.g., solo, duo, trio) is counted as a single entity. The number of individual musicians within each artist or group was not tabulated, and each performance is recorded as one entry regardless of group size.

d) Artists performing multiple sets within a paid engagement were not tracked separately. Whether one set or three sets were performed, the engagement was counted as a single performance.

London’s UNESCO City of Music Action Plan includes 372 initiatives spanning talent development, entrepreneurship, education, events, partnerships and community engagement. As of the most recent reporting period, December 31, 2025, 366 initiatives have been completed, demonstrating strong implementation progress across the four-year Action Plan. The dashboard will be updated reguarly as initiatives continue.

Additional tracked outputs include education initiatives, mentorships, presentations, spaces activated, materials produced and national and international recognition. Together, these results demonstrate how London’s UNESCO City of Music designation is translating into measurable cultural, economic, and community outcomes.