KUCHING, July 1: Following the designation of Kuching as a Creative City of Gastronomy under Unesco, the city is holding an open forum for all gastronomic and creative players on July 13 at Kuching South City Council (MBKS) Community Hall from 8am to 12.30pm.
The forum seeks to hear from a broad base of stakeholders to create links between local players and define better collaboration going forward with other Creative Cities around the world.
Unesco Creative Cities Network (UCCN) Kuching Creative City strategic director Karen Shepherd said that the main purpose of designating this important global network is to support and assist the city’s creative economy.
“As a creative city of Gastronomy, this starts with our food chain, from smallholders to stallholders, from chefs to food manufacturers.
“But it is also broader than this. It includes our filmmakers, food bloggers, designers and festival directors. If we want to put Kuching food on a global map, to raise our standards both for our local people and all the visitors to our city, then we need to pool our incredible talents,” she emphasised in a statement today.
Karen pointed out that the Creative Cities in the gastronomy network and across all the creative fields are committed to working with each other across 11 specific areas.
These priority areas of collaboration are Academic/Scientific; Communications; Creative Economy; Cultural Identity; Economic Development; Education; Food Security and Food Justice; Policies; Sustainability; Tourism; Traditional Knowledge.
As a Kuching delegation is due to attend the XIV Unesco Creative Cities Network Annual Conference in Santos, Brazil this month, Karen said this forum would provide them with the right information to approach the important knowledge-sharing platform.
“This is why we want to hear from you, all the gastronomic and creative players in the city. We want to hear about your challenges in these areas and work together to develop solutions.
“Only the people working hard in this sector day after day can provide the best insight into how we can proceed as a city. Your knowledge will help us to plan better activities for our own UCCN programmes going forward and also to stimulate opportunities for international collaboration,” she added.
UCCN Kuching is asking everyone interested in attending this forum to register at https://forms.gle/8aUvhsmH9pbq6gNz8. A registration link is also available at www.kuchingcreativecity.com.
For more information, the public can email uccnkuching@kuchingcreativecity.com. — DayakDaily
