The Big Gathering.

Aberdeen's Music Community, all in one room. Live & In Person.

Fireside Chats. Panels. Roundtables. Listening Lounge.

The North East of Scotland has always produced exceptional music. Aberdeen Music Week 2026 asks what happens when a region decides that is not enough, and starts building the conditions for that music to grow, travel and help transform an economy.

Day 2 of AMW26 is a full programme of fireside panel conversations, attendee-led roundtable discussions and a listening lounge, brought together under the title Made in the North East: Music, Place and Creative Economy. It is a day designed not to celebrate what the North East creative sector already is, but to have an honest, ambitious and actionable conversation about what it is becoming, and what it needs to get there.

The programme is underpinned by six priorities that define the sector's development agenda:

Building a Sustainable Creative City - Investment in Creative Infrastructure and Independent Businesses

Music as a Catalyst for Aberdeen's economic diversification beyond energy

From the Bedroom to Backstage: Strengthening Talent Pathways

The Business of Being Heard Today: Likes, Streams, AI & the Future of Ownership

International Touring, Partnerships, & Collaboration

What does the North East need next? Regional Challenges and Opportunities

The room will bring together artists and creative practitioners, music industry professionals, policy makers, funders, students and international delegates, a deliberately mixed group, because the best conversations about the future of a creative economy happen when every part of that economy is in the room together.

This is a thought leadership day. It is also a working day, the roundtables and listening lounge are designed to take the conversations off the stage and into the hands of everyone in the room.

The UK's creative industries contribute £145.8bn to the national economy and are growing faster than any other sector. Aberdeen sits at a pivotal economic moment, transitioning beyond its energy identity toward a more diversified future.

The question this day is asking is direct: what role does music and the creative economy play in that transition, and what decisions need to be made to make that role as significant as it should be?

Panels begin at 4:00pm. Places are limited.

AMW26 Day 2 is delivered in partnership with Aberdeen Inspired, Belmont Cinema, PRS Foundation, Sports Aberdeen, Urbane Media, Lime Reserve, and Captain Toms.

Description supplied by the event organiser.