The Opera of northern Sweden, the Norrland Opera, is based in the city. The annual Ume� Jazz Festival is one of the larger Scandinavian festivals for modern jazz.
Ume� is the home of the heavy metal band Meshuggah, which was labelled by the Rolling Stone as "one of the ten most important hard and heavy bands"; Other well-known metal bands from Ume� include Nocturnal Rites, Cult of Luna, and Persuader.
During the 1990s, the influence of Ume� hardcore punk bands such as Final Exit, Step Forward, Refused, Abhinanda and Doughnuts led to the growth of Ume�'s hardcore scene. Also significant were the number of straight edge groups.
The main museums in Ume� are: Bildmuseet - Museum of Contemporary Art and Visual Culture, Museum of the county of V�sterbotten with Gammlia outdoor museum and the Swedish Ski Museum.
Ume� is a centre for cultural activities, with annual film and music festivals. The city has been elected the European Cultural Capital for 2014.
Ume� is the center of television in northern Sweden, SVT Nord and TV4's northern region office are both based in the city. The main newspapers of the county of V�sterbotten,V�sterbottens-Kuriren and V�sterbottens Folkblad are also based in Ume�.
A 1996 study of over 67,000 Swedish students between the ages of 16 and 20 found that there is a particularly high concentration ofvegans in Ume�. 3.3% of the students in Ume� were vegan, three to four times as many as are found in other cities in Sweden
