Global nightlife experts tapped for EMC’s ‘Global Cities After Dark’ summit, new report published

Sydney’s Electronic Music Conference will shine a light once more on what goes on in the dark.

The EMC will host its second annual forum on the city’s night culture, “Global Cities After Dark,” which this year expands its program over the full day and into the evening of Nov. 12.

The 2018 forum will explore “the pillars that are essential to supporting successful nightlife,” organizers say, and will almost certainly ponder the findings of the “Global Cities Outcomes Report,” a deep dive into the nighttime economy which was built out of last year’s event and released today.

Leading the conversation at the 2018 “Global Cities After Dark” will be Lord Mayor Clover Moore and host Mirik Milan (global night mayor Advocate and co-founder, VibeLab), plus a lineup of international experts including Detroit’s night time economy ambassador Adrian Tonon; global female empowerment leader and diversity programmer Amanda Maxwell (Boiler Room, She Said So); and Loren Granich, creative director and co-founder of L.A.s progressive “Polysexual Revolution” hotspot, A Club Called Rhonda.

Clover Moore

A three-year project, “Global Cities After Dark” hosted some 150 delegates last year. The goal of this year’s event, notes Moore, is to “bring hundreds of night-time experts from around Australia and the world to Sydney to help us find solutions to the problems all global cities face.”

Talk will delve into creative industries “being able to prosper and grow, music and art activating at night, transport and mobility, public health and safety, gastronomy, city planning and place making, legislation and regulatory process,” say reps for the summit, announced Wednesday in partnership with Milan, the former Night Mayor of Amsterdam.

The gathering is a timely one, as Moore and advocates of Sydney’s once-awesome night culture look to inject new life into a time and space which many feel has been sanitised by the NSW Government’s lockout laws.

Moore did something about it when, last year, she pitched Agent of Change framework, developed from a suite of efforts explored in the City’s OPEN Sydney strategy and action plan and inspired by developments elsewhere.

After the inaugural “Global Cities” event, the City of Sydney established a Nightlife and Creative Sector Advisory Panel, comprised of 16 industry experts tasked with feeding into the city’s policy.

Collaboration is the theme of this November’s summit, which will feature a keynote update from the advisory panel; keynotes; and a “NightCamp” group workshop.

“Many of the challenges we face in Sydney are shared by other global cities, so it is essential that we work together to share our knowledge and – most importantly – solutions,” says Moore in a statement.

The 30-page “Outcomes Report,” published today, covers off the many angles of the night ecosystem and party culture, from sniffer dogs, to drug use and regulation, and illustrates a handy “success map.”

Visit globalcitiesafterdark.com for full details of the second edition of “Global Cities After Dark” and a free download of the report.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.