Africa Rising Music Conference Announces 2026 Edition with Applications Now Open
Following the success of its 2025 edition, the Africa Rising Music Conference (ARMC) has confirmed its return to Constitution Hill, Johannesburg, on 22–23 May 2026. ARMC 2026 is set to continue its mission of spotlighting underrepresented voices and driving innovation across Africa’s music ecosystem and artist and speaker applications are now open and tickets are officially on sale at https://www.quicket.co.za/events/321748-africa-rising-music-conference-2026
In 2025, ARMC recorded its highest attendance to date, welcoming over 1,000 delegates from South Africa and abroad, with representation from the UK, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the US, and more. The conference featured 76 speakers from 7 countries, with 58% of attendees identifying as female, reinforcing ARMC’s ongoing commitment to inclusivity in the music industry.
The event also created over 140 job opportunities during the six-month build-up in fields including content creation, sound, staging, and production. Online engagement saw notable growth, with over 630,000 Instagram views between March and May 2025 and a projected follower milestone of 10,000 by early 2026.
Audience engagement spanned across Johannesburg (13.2%), Cape Town (10.3%), and Nairobi (4.7%), with South Africa, Kenya, and Germany among the top five countries driving digital interaction.
In 2025, ARMC also expanded its Cradle Crew initiative, which brought 15 young people from rural communities to the conference for skills-building and exposure. The programme aims to scale up to 100 participants in 2026.
Notable 2025 highlights saw Busiswa launch her EP Honey & Grace at ARMC 2025, a project produced in Berlin through the SAMPRA Development Fund in collaboration with Paradise Worldwide. As part of the Jägermeister Global Pass, KMAT performed at Ibiza’s International Music Summit, while Money Badoo represented Germany's Reeperbahn Festival, Europe’s largest club festival.
The first Mamas in Music Africa Chapter was initiated following a landmark roundtable featuring Yvonne Chaka Chaka, laying the groundwork for an ongoing pan-African women-in-music network.
Applications are now open for artists and speakers interested in participating in ARMC 2026. The deadline to apply is 15 October 2025. Artists based in the UK may be eligible for mobility support through partners such as PRS Foundation, Goethe-Institut, and the British Council.
General admission tickets to talks, panels, workshops and ARMC by Night showcases are now available via Quicket. The first 100 tickets are free, and a limited number of VIP tickets are available offering exclusive access to sessions, networking events and lounge areas.
