Darwin Is The First Aus City To Join The 2025 Music Policy Resilience Network

MusicNT has announced that Darwin has been selected as the first Australian city to join the transnational collaboration, Music Policy Resilience Network.

The Music Policy Resilience Network is a cohort of cities that participate in research, masterclasses, knowledge exchange, and more. Darwin joins Cuenca, Ecuador; Cumberland (Maryland, USA); Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan; Ede, Nigeria; Folkestone, UK; Galva (Illinois, USA); Holmer (Alaska, USA); and South Tarawa (Republic of Kiribati).

Launched by the Centre for Music Ecosystems (the program is a result of 2022’s Defining Resilience in Remote Music Ecosystems and 2023–24’s Music Policy Resilience Lab), the worldwide collaboration aims to implement pro-music and culture policies that build resilience in cities facing unique challenges, such as geographical, economic, or sociological hurdles. The program is supported by the Nordic Culture Fund and the Levitt Foundation.

Mark Smith, the Executive Director of MusicNT, said the organisation is “proud” to have championed Darwin’s inclusion in the Music Policy Resilience Network.

“Joining like-minded cities from across the globe will only enhance the ability of Darwin and the broader NT to clearly focus on supporting one of the strongest economic and social wellbeing industries in the region,” Smith said. “We look forward to working with Governments of all levels in responding to the opportunity that this can provide for Darwin and the Northern Territory.”

Northern Territory Government Minister for the Arts, Anto Charls, congratulated MusicNT for bringing Darwin into the Music Policy Resilience Network as the only Australian city in the international collaboration.

Charls continued, “MusicNT’s participation in this initiative will support greater outcomes for our music sector and raise awareness globally about the positive impact of music in remote communities across the Territory.”

In August, Darwin hosted the first-ever Regional and Remote Music Industry Summit.

Over three days (7-9 August), industry figureheads, professionals, and artists worked to amplify the voices of Australia’s music storytellers living in remote and regional communities. Those communities represent 28% of the country’s population and are home to seven million people who aren’t always heard.