From 14 to 16 September, the annual general meeting of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network was held in Ostersund (Sweden). A day earlier, on September 13, a separate meeting of the Literary Cities of the Network took place. Anna Pushkareva, manager of the Ulyanovsk - UNESCO City of Literature Directorate, took part in both events.

The first day was devoted to work within the UNESCO Literary Cities subgroup, which currently includes 20 cities from different parts of the world. Among the issues discussed are the functioning of the Network and communication between cities, meeting new participants in the program and a short excursion into the current state of affairs in each city.

Also on September 13, a special session was held for new members of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, including Ulyanovsk. The session featured presentations by Denise Bax, Program and Outreach Curator of the UNESCO Creativity Division, and other representatives of the Organization. They talked about the main goals and objectives of the program, shared the details of the application campaign and voiced the main requirements for the reports that each city will need to provide after a 4-year period.

“The main goal of the UNEXO Creative Cities Network is to create conditions for the development of cooperation between cities from different countries, which see the creative sector as the main priority for sustainable development of the territory, a resource for involving residents in cultural life and the development of culture in general,” commented Bax.

The main events of the annual meeting took place on September 14, 15 and 16. At this time, several plenary sessions and panel discussions were held on the strategic documents of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization: the Sustainable Development Goals, UN-Habitat (United Nations Human Settlements Program) and some others. An important event was a round table with the participation of mayors, at which 25 heads of UNESCO Creative Cities spoke. Also, mixed sessions were organized for representatives of cities of different directions (design, cinema, literature, music, media art, gastronomy and handicrafts).

“Interdepartmental work is becoming an urgent task for the development of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, which will allow us to strengthen cooperation between cities of different directions and implement projects aimed at supporting various types of creativity,” the moderator of one of such sessions noted.

During the internal sessions, UNESCO Literary Cities presented their project proposals to each other. Thus, Anna Pushkareva, manager of the directorate of the program "Ulyanovsk - a literary city of UNESCO", presented two projects included in the application for the city's entry into the Network: I.A. Goncharov and the International Scientific Goncharov Conference. Both events are scheduled for the first half of 2017. The cities of Heidelberg (Geramnia) and Ljubljana (Slovenia) expressed an active interest in participating. In turn, agreements were reached on the absentee participation of Ulyanovsk in projects implemented by other cities, such as the "Poetic Bus" in the city of Tartu (Estonia) and the Reading Festival in the city of Reykjavik (Iceland).

It was decided to create a single platform for informing about the existing possibilities of organizing residences for writers and other literary figures from the UNESCO Literary Cities, including those implemented by local universities. Several applications from the city of Ulyanovsk have already been submitted for participation in a similar program of the city of Prague (Czech Republic), and it is also planned to launch a residence in Barcelona (Spain).

“The annual meetings of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network are the most important part of the work of this international program, and participation in them is a mandatory requirement of UNESCO for all cities, specified upon joining the Network. Such events allow us to keep abreast of international trends in the field of culture and cultural policy, talk about our experience and share project proposals, as well as find partners in the person of representatives of other cities. We all pursue one common goal - to develop the city through culture - and therefore joint events provide us with an invaluable opportunity to unite efforts and subsequently increase the efficiency of our work, ”said Elena Titova, acting head of the department for culture and leisure activities of the population of the city administration of Ulyanovsk.

One of the central events in Östersund was the best practices exhibition, created by the efforts of more than 50 cities in the Network. Ulyanovsk presented at the exhibition a program of "literary interventions" - a series of projects aimed at revitalizing urban spaces by introducing a literary component into them, such as "Courtyard of the Goncharov House", "Neskuchny Square" and some others.

Especially for the annual meeting of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, a compilation was released, which contains information about each city participating in the international program, indicating specific projects and initiatives aimed at involving and integrating various cities of the Network. Ulyanovsk is presented in this collection with such projects as the International Cultural Forum, Park School of Arts, etc.

The program ended on September 16 with the adoption of a Resolution regulating the work of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network over the next year.

For reference:

Ulyanovsk joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in Literature in December 2015. The Ulyanovsk - UNESCO City of Literature Program has been implemented by the Ulyanovsk City Administration in partnership with the Ministry of Art and Cultural Policy of the Ulyanovsk Region and the Ulyanovsk - Cultural Capital Foundation since March 2016.