Changsha applies to become City of Media Arts

Changsha officially applied to join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a City of Media Arts on May 22.

Mayor Hu Henghua met with Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, in Qingdao, Shandong province and submitted the application. Bokova was there to attend the International Conference on ICT and Post-2015 Education scheduled to open that Saturday.

In February, 2014, Changsha municipal Party committee and government decided to apply to the Creative Cities Network. A major cultural project under the patronage of UNESCO, the Network is a group of creative cities, working together towards cultural diversity and sustainable urban development.

Currently there are 69 cities worldwide in the network, including eight cities in China. In March this year, the Chinese National Commission wrote to UNESCO and gave its official support for Changsha’s application as a City of Media Arts. The China Newspaper Association and China Radio, Film, and TV Association followed suit. Changsha also won nine supporting letters from Creative Cities from both home and abroad, including cities such as Santa Fe and York.

During the meeting, Hu said that culture is one of Changsha’s six pillar industries. Changsha’s total culture industrial income in 2014 was 181.8 billion yuan ($29.32 billion), accounting for 8.8 percent of its GDP. Highly integrated with the arts, Changsha’s media is a national leader. It frequently hosts festivals and galas such as the China Golden Eagle TV Art Festival, International Sculpture Art Festival, Orange Island Music Festival, and International Photography Art Festival. It also attracted the participation of a large number of residents in events such as the Top 100 Clubs and Associations and Stars of the Star City(Changsha is known as Star City, or Xingcheng in Chinese).

Bokova spoke highly of Changsha’s accomplishments in creative culture and art development. She said that 50 percent of the world’s population are living in cities now, and it is expected to reach 60 percent in 2050. The Creative Cities Network serves to bring a more comfortable living environment and enriched cultural life for urban residents, she said, adding that the culture industry in Changsha and the extensive support it has received is very impressive.

The UNESCO Creative Cities Network refers to a network of creative cities, working together towards a common mission for cultural diversity and sustainable urban development.

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, and “socio-cultural clusters” connecting socio-culturally diverse communities to create a healthy urban environment.

There are currently 69 member cities around the world in seven creative industry fields such as literature, cinema, music, craft and folk arts, design, media arts, and gastronomy. So far, in the Creative Cities Network, “City of Media Arts” has eight members, such as Lyon and Enghien-les-Bains in France, as well as Sapporo in Japan.