Farzaneh Hemmasi: Tending the Urban “Music Ecosystem”: Cultural, Economic, and Scholarly Cultivation in Policy and on the Ground
By Farzaneh Hemmasi, presented at the Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Meeting, 2020.
In Toronto, “music ecosystem” is a key term in discussions over how, or whether, city government and industry should promote, protect, and invest in music as a distinctive aspect of the city’s economy and identity. With its implied connections to balance, sustainability, and optimal functioning across scale, music ecosystem discourse and investment is in an uneasy relationship with income inequality, rapid urban development, and increasing real estate prices that characterize Toronto’s present moment. This presentation investigates tensions in the use and application of music ecosystem discourse, planning, and action in Toronto between 2016 and 2020.