The new music and city culture festival Tallinn Music Week (TMW) taking place from 27th March to 2nd April has announced a new round of speakers at the TMW Creative Impact conference, among them the first “Night Czar” of London, Amy Lamé.

The conference in the Russian Cultural Centre and Nordic Hotel Forum on 31st March and 1st April will focus on the impact of creativity and innovation with panels and discussions involving music industry experts, technology innovators, urbanists and culture policy makers.

Amy Lamé

One of the highlight speakers of the conference will be Amy Lamé, appointed the City of London’s first ever Night Czar by the Major of London Sadiq Khan to focus on the city’s night time economy. Amy Lamé, originally from New Jersey, has a long and successful track record as a leader and collaborator in the cultural and creative industries. She has been promoting music, nightlife and minority rights in London for 25 years. A former Mayoress of Camden, she is co-founder of the Olivier Award winning arts company and cabaret night Duckie. Being at the very heart of the conversation about venues under threat of closure in London, she is a restless fighter for a vibrant and diverse nightlife. Her debut book, From Prejudice to Pride: A History of the LGBT+ Movement – the first LGBT+ history book for children – is to be published in June 2017.

Shain Shapiro, the founder and CEO of Sound Diplomacy, one of the leading global advisors on music cities and market development, will present a wide study, commissioned by the City of London on the impact of music venues to a city’s competitive edge. Eddie Berg, the founder of Liverpool’s FACT (the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) and now Chief Executive of Rich Mix, an independent arts centre, located in the heart of Shoreditch in London, and Stuba Nikula, the chief of cultural services of the City of Helsinki, will join the discussion about the impact of creativity in reshaping cities and communities.

Scott Dodson, the Chief Product and Marketing Officer of Lingvist, the fastest app for language learning in the world shares his experience of smooth user experience, motivational design and the future forms of creativity. Takayuki Suzuki, founder of music and technology conference ParadeAll, whose latest vision “EnterTech” promises to bring new value to the entertainment industry, will introduce new trends in Japanese education and entertainment.

The Olympic Gold medalist in freestyle skiing Stine Lise Hattestad Bratsberg from Norway will focus on this year’s core topic of TMW – Sustainable Development Goals and social responsibility within it. Stine Lise works as an adviser of the senior management level for several large companies and is presently Co-Chair for the UNEP Safe Planet Campaign. Stine’s fellow countryman, singer-songwriter and activist Pål Moddi Knutsen lifts the covers from his album “Unsongs” that consists of songs that have been censored, silenced or banned in twelve different countries.

President of Estonia, Kersti Kaljulaid will open the two-day TMW conference “Creative Impact” on 31st March at 10:00 at the Russian Cultural Centre.

Among the previously announced speakers are the influential music critic and pop culture theorist Simon Reynolds, the spokesperson of Berlin’s Clubcommission, Lutz Leichsenring, the founder member of the pioneering industrial group Einstürzende Neubauten Alexander Hacke and musician, and co-founder of Love Parade Danielle de Picciotto. TMW 2017 conference also presents the manager of the premier Tuareg music group Tinariwen, Mohamed Aly Ansar aka Manny Ansar, chief executive of the UKs PRS for Music Foundation Vanessa Reed, the senior director of programming of the KEXP radio station Kevin Cole, A&R expert Aya Ohi, CEO and founder of global startup investment platform Funderbeam Kaidi Ruusalepp, co-founder and CEO of the gaming startup accelerator GameFounders, Kadri Ugand, and many others.

Confirmed speakers of the TMW 2017 conference

The TMW 2017 conference programme along with additional speakers and panels will be announced in February and March.

This year’s edition of TMW from 27th March to 2nd April will present the music festival line-up and two-day industry conference, a series of free City Stage concerts, TMW Arts programme, curated by the Estonian Contemporary Arts Development Centre, Design Market showcasing the most exciting Baltic and Scandinavian brands and designs, TMW Talks series with topics from music to science and societal issues, City Space activities in cooperation with the interior designers of Estonian Academy of Arts and a special kids and youth programme.

TMW 2017 is presented by Nordea bank, the sponsors are Telia and Spotify, Estonian Ministry of Culture, Enterprise Estonia, Eesti Meedia and Nordic Hotel Forum. Partners and supporters of TMW are Uber, Viru Keskus, Telliskivi Creative City, Solaris, Music Estonia, Tuborg, LaMuu, Fritz Kola, Tallinn City government.

Tallinn Music Week’s international activities introducing Tallinn and Estonia as an attractive tourism destination of music and culture are supported by The European Regional Development Fund.

TMW 2017 delegate passes are available for €250 until 19th March (From 20th March €295) at TMW web store. Sign up as a delegate and buy your pass.

TMW delegate pass grants access to the conference seminars and priority access to the music festival as well as the database of registered contacts.

Please fill in the press accreditation form here.

Find more information about the conference here.