Here's an excerpt of the press release:

"Director General of UNESCO, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura visits Glasgow on
Wednesday 20 August to announce that the City’s bid to join UNESCO’s
worldwide Creative Cities Network as City of Music has been successful.
Scotland becomes the only nation in the world with two UNESCO ‘Creative
Cities’, joining Edinburgh City of Literature (awarded in 2004).
Mr Matsuura will be welcomed to Glasgow by Cllr. Robert Winter, Lord
Provost of Glasgow at a lunch in Glasgow City Halls, an iconic building for
music in the city. Attending will be Linda Fabiani MSP (Minister for Europe,
External Affairs and Culture), Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale (Chair of the Bid
Steering Committee) and many of those who supported and created the bid,
including many key figures in Glasgow’s music world.
Mr Matsuura said:
The Creative Cities Network was launched in 2004 to promote the social,
economic and cultural development of cities around the world. We at
UNESCO believe that culture not only makes an economic contribution, it
provides meaning, and a sense of identity and continuity that is integral to the
life of all societies. An understanding of culture helps communities grapple
with the challenges of globalization, by preserving the values and practices
that define their way of life, and by promoting respect for other cultural
traditions.
That is why UNESCO has long been a leading advocate of increasing the role
of culture in national development strategies. My 2 day visit to Scotland has
allowed me to see at first hand Scotland’s commitment to safeguarding and
promoting its traditional and contemporary cultural expressions. Announcing
Glasgow’s appointment to the Creative Cities Network is the perfect way to
end my visit and the beginning of what I am sure will be a very rich and fruitful
partnership."

Well, I don't really know what it's for either, though I've nothing against it as such. The title itself will probably serve as a puffer on all sorts of tourism-promotion bumf (tourism is Scotland's biggest industry AFAIK). I was there for the lunch - nice buffet lunch, chicken and haggis! I don't think I slapped any backs myself, though I did meet a couple of nice chaps from the Glasgow Uni music department.

Ah, further down the press release there's a bit more info:

"In preparation for a full launch of the organization ‘Glasgow City of Music’
early in 2009, an Interim Management Group chaired by Colin McClatchie
(Chair of Scottish Opera) is currently working to set up an enduring body that
will work with existing musical organisations to coordinate and further
stimulate music-making in the city. The award also gives the city an edge as
an international cultural destination for tourists and strengthens Glasgow's
image. Glasgow has an impressive 130 music events in a typical week,
ranging from pop and rock to celtic and opera. Music businesses generate
some £75 million a year for the city's economy.

As expressed in the bid document, Glasgow City of Music objectives are to
use the title to:

- promote excellence in all sorts of music from rock to opera;
- to stimulate interest in musical education;
- to re-conceive Glasgow culturally as a world music centre;
- to improve access to music for all ages and social and ethnic backgrounds;
- to take part in the global network of UNESCO Creative Cities.

The Interim Management Group will shortly advertise for a Director of the new
body."

You may well be right, Ron, but the bid director, Svend Brown, is also artistic director of the East Neuk Festival and creative director of Perth Concert Hall - so presumably he isn't worried about any negative fallout for other places...

That at least, is reassuring: worthwhile, invigorating enterprises, both.

Yes indeed, though sadly we aren't yet in such an enlightened society that prestige is accepted as payment at one's local Tesco. Maybe Waitrose though.

Really??? !!

Then I'll be buggered if I can figure out what the point is.

"Forget Paris, honey -- let's go to Glasgow this year; they're a UNESCO City of Music, dontcha know..."
 

OK, so Glasgow isn't Paris, but it's a very handsome city with a great location and the whackiest folk in Britain: what's more, it's a city that buzzes.

 (And that's from someone on the East Coast, not exactly known for its appreciation of the West.)

Don't get me wrong, I like Glasgow very much indeed (though I DO NOT like driving around it and taking an hour of labyrinthine stress to make a journey I could have walked in five minutes), and I certainly didn't think there was anything wrong with its cultural life that it needed a visit from a UNESCO bigwig to put right.