Jazz Talk: “UNESCO city of music — why and to whom?”

Everyone knows that Tallinn has become an UNESCO city of music. But why is this important for cities, and what does it mean to be a city of music? This Jazz Talk discusses the theme on the example of Tallinn and the partner city of Katowice. All these topics will be opened by Kaarel Oja from Estonia and Łukasz Kałębasiak from Poland.

Hosted by Romi Hasa.

PS! This Jazz Talk is in English.

Łukasz Kałębasiak is Director of communications at Katowice City of Gardens Cultural Institution from 2012. Part of the team responsible for successful access of Katowice to UNESCO Creative Cities Network in 2015 as first polish City of Music. Participated in organisation of WOMEX 2017 and UNESCO Creative Cities Network Annual Meeting in 2018. Focal Point of Katowice UNESCO Creative City since 2019.

He started his career as cultural journalist of influential newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza in Katowice, since 1999. He was a head of its Culture Section between 2006 and 2011. The author of hundreds of reviews and editorials dedicated to visual arts, music and theatre. His texts have appeared in several books and monographs. The reviewer of Katowice Polish Radio between 2008 and 2015.

Kaarel Oja is Tallinn’s Deputy Mayor for Culture, whose career has alternated in the fields of culture, politics, education and communication, in the latter of which he also has a degree. Kaarel has worked as the CEO of Theatre NO99 and Telliskivi Creative City, managed election campaigns and the publishing of educational materials, and has been a member of councils of cultural institutions. He has also been involved in the launch of the Opinion Festival in Paide, Theatre Centre Vaba Lava. Kaarel is a father of three.