91�鶹������Ʒ����

Poland’s cities of Krakow and Katowice, creative cities of literature and music respectively, will be the joint hosts of the annual meeting of UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network from 12 to 15 June.

More than 350 delegates, including 40 mayors, representing the 180 cities of are expected to attend the meeting whose theme this year will be “creative crossroads.”

The annual meeting provides participants with an opportunity to exchange and share ideas and experiences on themes such as creativity and culture for a better quality of life in cities, the impact of digital arts on work and production, necessary changes in consumption and manufacture in the face of environmental challenges.

Jacek Majchrowski, Mayor of Krakow, Marcin Krupa, Mayor of Katowice, and Ernesto Ottone R., Assistant Director-General for Culture of UNESCO, will open the meeting (12 June, 9am to 10.30am). Maria Francesca Merloni, Also during the opening, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Creative Cities, and the poet Tyehimba Jess, will present their views as artists on the development of cities.

The mayors of UNESCO Creative Cities, including Edinburgh (UK), Frutillar (Chile), João Pessoa (Brazil), Limoges (France), Madaba (Jordan), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Phuket (Thailand), Porto Novo (Benin) and Zahlé (Lebanon), will present their vision of creativity as a wellspring of innovation and sustainable development.

"Culture and the creative industries represent real levers of economic, social and environmental development,” declared Ernesto Ottone R. “By mobilizing very diverse cities, from metropolises to smaller towns, the Creative Cities Network serves above all as a space for exchange and for the sharing of experiences to invent the city of tomorrow. It offers a unique platform to support and enhance local and international actions undertaken by the Network’s members to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

Initiatives to be showcased during the meeting will include, for example, poetry on buses in Seattle (USA), an exchange programme for young creative talent between Asia and Africa in Changsha (China), a creative eco-fabric in Santos (Brazil), and measures in favour of music and social inclusion in Brazzaville (Republic of the Congo).

Launched in 2004 to promote creative and sustainable urban governance, the Creative Cities Network numbers 180 cities in 72 countries focusing on any of seven areas of creativity: crafts and popular arts, digital arts, design, film, gastronomy, literature and music.

****

More about the meeting:

Journalists wishing to cover the meeting should apply for accreditation

Contact: media@krakowice.com

Lucía Iglesias Kuntz, UNESCO Media Section, l.iglesias@unesco.org

Twitter: #krakowice2018, #Creativecities