(Originally published on 04/30/2015)

Today UNDP celebrated the UN International Day for Jazz by participating in the opening of the 2015 Shanghai Jazz Spring Music Festival in Jing’an District, Shanghai. Li Xi from UNDP’s communication team joined Jing’an District Deputy Mayor Deng Xiaodong to speak at the festival’s opening event, before giving the stage to the Asia Jazz Big Band to play the first set of the 2015 festival.

This year the Shanghai Jazz Spring Music Festival gathers more than 200 musicians from around the world to celebrate the power of music with a theme of ‘peaceful sound, young dreamer, dynamic jazz’ in jazz music’s Asian spiritual home. Embracing the ability of music to communicate across languages and cultures and call for peace and cooperation, UNDP is supporting the festival in 2015 the year of the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals agenda - which will guide global development for years to come.

Ms. Li revealed at the opening event that ‘UNDP is really pleased to be able to join this festival; music is a wonderful way to bring people together, and this festival’s focus on sharing a message of peace is fully supported by all at UNDP.’ She further called on those attending to use the festival as a chance not only to enjoy the music, but to see the harmony and benefits that can be created by people working together – be it in a jazz ensemble, or a community or of nations working together.

The Shanghai Jazz Spring Festival is supported by the United Nations Development Programme in China and runs from 30 April – 2 May 2015, bringing over 200 musicians from around the world to Shanghai. This event is part of growing UN engagement with the arts in China; last year saw Midi festival’s main stage sponsored by the United Nations, hosting over 70,000 festival-goers.