Kulturen som tillväxtverktyg i Umeå : En kvalitativ studie som undersöker hur Umeås lokala musikscen har påverkats av att staden använder kultur för att skapa tillväxt

The city Umeå in northern Sweden was elected to become the European culture capital for 2014. This was a result of the city’s desire to lead the way in the new culture-driven growth that we have seen since the start of the millennium. Umeå has big plans to expand, and cultural development is the central strategy they have decided on to reach the city’s goals. Because Umeå is such a prominent music-city it is interesting to study how the music scene has been affected by this. The aim of this study is to analyse how the local music scene, both the physical and the cultural, has been affected by the way the city has used culture to advertise the city and to fuel the population growth. This has been done through mapping of the active music scenes, with interviews and through information gathered by local newspapers. When analysing this material, it became clear that after this strategy had been implemented there have been a change in the local music scene, but maybe not the one the city would have thought.