Mayor's Office

Imagine a warm day, the first day of summer to be exact, filled with music. You hear sounds meandering from live musicians performing at your neighborhood park, or from your favorite restaurant patio, or on the sidewalk outside your local library. Every year on June 21st, the city becomes a stage, with hundreds of free live music performances popping up in every neighborhood. Even your neighbor’s front yard might be filled with musicians of all kinds.

This summer party is called Make Music Madison, an annual one-day, city-wide, free, community music celebration held on the Summer Solstice, June 21st. All genres, styles of music, skill levels, and ages of musicians use public and private spaces throughout our community to share their talent. “Music” is whatever live sound an individual or group wishes to produce, and whatever the hosting space can accommodate.

Make Music Madison is part of the larger Make Music Day, an international music celebration occurring in 1,000+ cities across the globe every June 21st. Beginning in 1982 in Paris as Fête de la Musique, Make Music Day is celebrating 40 years of live musical celebrations this year. Make Music Day is about bringing our community together to celebrate the power of live music. Our local chapter spearheading this wonderful celebration, Make Music Madison, was founded in 2013 by a group of dedicated citizens with guidance and support from the City of Madison and the Madison Arts Commission.

 Last year the event featured 312 concerts at 112 venues with over 1000 individual musicians. This year we challenge our community to make this event even bigger and better. Registration for performers and venues is open now through May 25th at makemusicmadison.org. There are no registration fees or limits to the number of musicians or locations who can participate. All are welcome in this community wide celebration of live musical entertainment.