The 7th edition of Circulart took place in Medellin, Colombia from 11-13 November.
Circulart affirmed its position as the number one music meeting for Latin America and once again, the continent showed how dynamic and fast-growing its music sector remains.
Some figures and facts:
- 1420 registered participants
- 38 showcases from Colombia, but also from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Haiti, Panama and Venezuela.
- Circulart’s heavy rotation speed meetings saw 2023 meetings between 116 artists and 101 music professionals from 26 countries.
- This year Circulart received a record of over 1200 artists proposals for showcases and speed meetings from 18 Latin American countries.
- The conference and workshops gave 2 days of informative, entertaining, innovating exchanges.
Circulart facilitated the founding of important professional networks of the continent and they traditionally host their meetings there: ADIMI (Associacion para el Desarollo de la Industria Musical Iberoamericana), Music Managers Forum Latam, also the USM (Union del sector de la Música) met with 10 organisations from Latin America.
This year’s edition saw some new features:
- Screenings of documentary music films in partnership with Vice Colombia
- A very crowded first presentation of "Electronica Latina" featuring 4 acts
- A fruitful first experience of Hackathon "Hacking the reality" where selected working groups spent one day analysing problems and looking for creative solutions around topics such as festivals, social media and fan engagements or markets.
Last but not least: a new peace agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC has been announced during Circulart, and has been signed the week afterwards. (Thank you Colombia for giving some lights of hope in this obscure world!)
Don’t miss next edition: mark your calendars for 9-12 November 2017!
And a personal message from our director of consultancy and special projects, Christine Semba:
I am particularly proud of the work we have achieved with Redlat and Circulart all over these years: it has definitely made a great contribution in putting Colombia and its musical diversity on the global map. From a well-kept secret, it has become evident to all that the country has great music and a very vivid music scene carried by young and dynamic players.
It is amazing to see how culture, music, education and transmission have played an important role in the positive developments of the country in the last ten years.
Many practices and models can be learned from the Colombian case, and it should be very encouraging for many of us going through dark moments for culture, diversity and tolerance.
It was such a strong and emotional moment for everybody present at Circulart when the showcases were stopped to announce the new peace agreements. And it made so much sense that it happened at Circulart, in Medellin.
All photos courtesy of Circulart.
article posted by:Jim Hickson, Piranha Arts