Saturday, December 21, 2013
Enghien-les-Bains (France) and Sapporo (Japan) have been designated UNESCO Cities of Media Arts, and Paducah, Kentucky (United States of America) is the most recent City of Crafts and Folk Arts.
Launched in 2004, the UNESCO Creative Cities Network aims to develop international cooperation among cities that acknowledge and seek to support creativity as a strategic driver for sustainable development, through multi-stakeholders global partnerships. By joining the Creative Cities Network, new members "commit to work jointly and share resources with other UNESCO Cities to promote creativity, reinforce participation in cultural life, and integrate culture into local development plans."
Member cities are recognized as:
- “Creative hubs” that promote socio-economic and cultural development in both the developed and the developing world through creative industries
- “Socio-cultural clusters” connecting socio-culturally diverse communities to create a healthy urban environment.
The Creative Cities Network now comprises 41 cities from all the regions of the world. The call for new applications for 2014 opened in December 2013.
Recent meetings of the Creative Cities took place in Bologna (Italy, September 2013) and Beijing (October 2013). The next general meeting of the Creative Cities network is scheduled to take place in Chengdu (China) in spring 2014.
