Gwalior, Kozhikode join UNESCO Creative Cities Network

Culture of India Institutional Structure

02-Nov-23

Context: UNESCO has published the new list of 55 creative cities on World Cities Day (Oct 31st), in which 2 Indian cities Kozhikode and Gwalior were included.

Kozhikode is a permanent venue for the annual Kerala Literature Festival and hosts several other book festivals.
Gwalior has a rich and diverse musical heritage encompassing classical Hindustani music, folk music, and devotional music. The city also has some prestigious music institutes and hosts popular festivals.

UNESCO's Creative Cities Network

Established: It was created in 2004.
Aim: To “promote cooperation among cities which recognize creativity as a strategic factor in their urban development”.
Covers seven creative fields: crafts and folk arts, media arts, film, design, gastronomy, literature and music.

Objective

It aims to strengthen cultural activities, goods, services and international cooperation for sustainable development.
Placing creativity and cultural industries at the heart of their development plans at the local level and cooperating actively at the international level.

Every year, UNESCO seeks applications from various cities across the globe to put them under its UCCN project.

The applications in India are routed through the Ministry of Culture.
Aim: Sustainable Development Goal 11 aims for Sustainable Cities and Communities.

Indian Cities on UCCN

Srinagar - Crafts and Folk Arts (2021)
Mumbai – Film (2019).
Hyderabad – Gastronomy (2019).
Chennai - Creative city of Music (2017).
Jaipur - Crafts and Folk Arts (2015).
Varanasi - Creative city of Music (2015).

Note: Kozhikode is the 1st Indian city to get City of Literature tag.

UNESCO

Formation: 1945, is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) based in Paris.
Objective: It works to achieve peace and security by promoting international collaboration through educational, scientific, and cultural reforms.
Members: 195 member states and 10 associate members. India is a founding member of the Organization.
Headquarter: Paris, France.