Make Music Vancouver is an entirely free live music event that brings the local community together on the third Wednesday of June. On Make Music day, Water Street is shut down to traffic and is transformed into sidewalk stages and dance floors, showcasing Vancouver’s incredible cultural and artistic diversity. This grassroots event is being made possible entirely by volunteers, from organizers to performers. It showcases hundreds of amateur and established musicians, and celebrates music in all its diversity. The first-ever edition was a resounding success, bringing more than 100 musicians and 20 000 spectators to the streets of Gastown on June 21st 2011. Make Music Vancouver was inspired by La Fête de la Musique, an event launched in France in 1982, and has since gone global, taking place each year on June 21st in over 450 cities worldwide today. It is being organized by Vancouver en Français and the Alliance Française de Vancouver, both non-profit cultural associations, with the support of the Gastown BIA.