The BIME music festival is one of the music industry’s four main events and takes place each year in Bogotá and Bilbao. Since 2024, Faculty of Communication Sciences lecturer Isabel Villanueva has served as its strategic and content director and has endeavoured to position the University as Spain’s first institution to promote a research congress on the creative industries: the CIIIC.
The International Congress on Research in the Creative Industries (CIIIC) is slated to take place on 29 and 30 October in Bilbao, as part of the BIME festival, and stands to become a meeting point for researchers and scholars. This academic event is the result of a cooperation agreement entered into between UIC Barcelona and BIME in 2025.
“The growing need for research, training and strategies for the professionalisation of the music industry in Spanish has emerged as a key challenge for the sector’s global competitiveness, particularly as it adapts to technological and climate-related changes and new forms of cultural consumption,” explains the director of BIME and UIC Barcelona lecturer, Isabel Villanueva.
In the researcher’s opinion, there is a disconnection between the music sector and research, and the CIIIC will be the first congress to showcase findings from researchers and scholars working in the creative industries, positioning the University as a pioneer in its commitment to research in this field. “Music remains one of the world’s biggest businesses not only economically but also in terms of social impact, and one of the arts that most engages young people,” remarks Villanueva.
UIC Barcelona will be involved in the presentation of reports containing revealing data about the music industry as the institution organising the congress’s first edition, which will take place on 29 October in Bilbao’s Euskalduna Conference Centre.
The challenge of directing BIME is another step forward in Isabel Villanueva’s career. Closely linked to UIC Barcelona for over 15 years, she wrote her PhD on attracting new audiences to classical music at the University. Her career as a teacher and researcher has afforded her the opportunity to work and develop artistic and musical projects with the world’s foremost musical companies, including Sony Music, Universal and Warner Music.
According to the industry professional, the music sector currently has two main challenges: the emergence of artificial intelligence, which “will close some doors and open others”, and the sustainability of major musical events.
