UNESCO CREATIVE CITIES NETWORK (UCCN) – INTERNATIONAL
News:
Kozhikode,
Gwalior added to UNESCO creative cities list
What's
in the news?
● The
city of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh and
Kozhikode from Kerala was among the 55 new cities to join the UCCN.
Key
takeaways:
Kozhikode:
● Kozhikode
is the first city in India to receive
the prestigious title of ‘City of Literature’ by UNESCO.
● Kozhikode
carried the distinction of being home to over 500 libraries.
Gwalior:
● Gwalior
is the second city in India to be designated as the ‘City of Music’ by UNESCO, after Varanasi in 2015.
● The
city is also the origin of the Gwalior Gharana, the oldest and most influential
school of Hindustani classical music.
● The
city hosts one of the biggest annual music festivals in India, the Tansen
Sangeet Samaroh, which attracts thousands of music lovers and artists from
across the country and abroad.
UNESCO
Creative Cities Network (UCCN):
● The
UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) was created in 2004 to promote cooperation among cities that have identified
creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development.
● It
now includes 350 cities in over a
hundred countries.
Cities
in UCCN:
● Apart
from Kozhikode and Gwalior, Varanasi
(music), Srinagar (crafts and folk arts) and Chennai (music) are part of
the network.
Creative
fields covered under UCCN:
● Crafts
and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts, and Music.
Objectives:
● The
UNESCO Creative Cities Network allows member cities to recognize creativity as an essential component of urban
development, notably through partnerships involving the public and private
sectors and civil society.
● It
envisages to develop hubs of creativity
and innovation and broaden opportunities for creators and professionals in
the cultural sector.
● These
cities have to achieve the UN agenda of sustainable development