For Bydgoszcz – UNESCO City of Music, 2025 was a time of intense activity, meetings, and experiments in which music became a tool for dialogue, development, and integration. Projects such as Music, Therapy, Education, and Cultural Recycling showed that sound can combine art with social sensitivity, health, and education, reaching very different audiences.
Education, young audiences, and future skills
In 2025, we placed particular emphasis on educational and developmental activities. The projects Songs About Important Things, Dialogues with Music, Smart Kid, Holidays with a Historic Piano, and “PrzyGrywka” – Musical Escape Box engaged children and young people, developing their creativity, sensitivity, and conscious participation in culture.
Music, ecology, and social responsibility
An important trend was initiatives combining music with ecology and sustainable development topics, such as Eko Drum – drumming workshops, Punky Vege, and the “Images of Change” project. Bydgoszcz Artists Facing the Challenges of Agenda 2030. They showed that sound can be a vehicle for reflection on the future of the city and the planet.
Experimentation, new sounds, and artistic courage
In 2025, Bydgoszcz was a space for exploration and artistic risk-taking. Projects such as Przetwórnia, Mirrors Sessions, Abstract Emergency Meetings, Roz-Dźwięk, and activities carried out as part of the Bydgoszcz Experiment Studio created a platform for contemporary, improvised, and interdisciplinary music.
Form, body, and music
Music met movement and theater in projects such as Live Music / Live Body – dance workshops and in the Contemporary Transgressive Opera “Mirror,” which broadened the definition of a concert and performance, inviting the audience to new artistic experiences.
Local scene and community cooperation
The year 2025 was also a time of intense local cooperation. Initiatives such as the Bydgoszcz Battle of the Bands, Sound Check, Jam with Kazon, and the “Soundocracy” grant program strengthened the city’s music scene and supported grassroots initiatives by artists.
Jazz, rhythm, and intergenerational encounters
Jazz and improvised music resounded during Jazz Day Relay, as well as concerts such as Ronja Maltzahn Duo (Mannheim) and Kochlea (Brno), creating a space for dialogue between tradition and modernity.
International cooperation and Bydgoszcz’s presence in the world
As a UNESCO City of Music, we actively participated in international events and projects: SPIEVY z-pad mosta | Ethniesy 2025, WADOKYO SHOW and Japanese Culture Evening, TRIGGER, performances by The Howling Eye in Tallinn, ||ALA|MEDA|| at the SQUARE festival in Braga, and presentations by Antoni Majewski and Antoni Torzewski in Como confirmed the strong presence of Bydgoszcz artists on foreign stages.
Debate, knowledge, and cultural diplomacy
The year 2025 will also see numerous conferences and expert meetings, including the Local Government Diplomacy Forum, Tallinn Music Week, the Mondiacult Conference in Barcelona, the ZAiKS conference on Polish Music Day, Creative Tourism Network, ReConnect in Brno, and Women in Classical Music Meetup, which strengthened the role of culture in urban and international policies.
Recognition and nominations
The culmination of these efforts was Bydgoszcz’s international visibility, including its nomination for the title of Best Global Music City, confirming the city’s consistently built position on the world music map.
We would like to thank the artists, partners, institutions, organizations, animators, and audiences—it is thanks to you that Bydgoszcz, UNESCO City of Music in 2025, sounded so diverse and bold.
See you in 2026.
