Srinagar: UNESCO Creative Cities Network | 10 Nov 2021

Why in News

Recently, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated Srinagar as a part of UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN).

• After Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Varanasi and Jaipur, Srinagar is the sixth Indian city to achieve this distinction.

Key Points

• About:
  
  • The Srinagar city has been designated the creative city in the field of Crafts and Folk Arts - only second city in India in this category after Jaipur.
  • It will not only give global recognition to the Srinagar city but also help it in international funding, tie-ups with craft universities and pitching craft as a product.
  • With this, the capital city of Jammu and Kashmir (Srinagar) has entered the club of 295 creative cities network across the world.
  • Every year, UNESCO seeks applications for various cities across the globe for putting them under its UCCN project. The applications in India are routed through the Ministry of Culture.
• UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN):
  
  • It was created in 2004.
  • It aims to “promote cooperation among cities which recognize creativity as a strategic factor in their urban development”.
    
    • Sustainable Development Goal 11 aims for Sustainable Cities and Communities.
  • The network covers seven creative fields: crafts and folk arts, media arts, film, design, gastronomy, literature and music.
• 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).

Source: TH