KUCHING, June 27: A delegation from Kuching will be attending the XIV Unesco Creative Cities Network (UCCN) annual conference in its inaugural year as a City of Gastronomy.
According to a press statement from UCCN Kuching, this year’s conference will take place in Santos, a Creative City of Film in Brazil.
“With the theme ‘Creativity, the path to equality’, this is the first gathering of the Creative Cities in two years, since the start of the pandemic, and Kuching’s first attendance since its inclusion in the network in November of last year.
“Therefore, UCCN Kuching is calling on local stakeholders to get in touch with them if they (local stakeholders) have any information about activities in the city that could support their visit,” the press statement read.
Meanwhile, Kuching South City Council (MBKS) mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng said that it is a very important opportunity for Kuching to make new links with other network cities.
“The conference is open to all 295 Creative Cities around the world and it is the network’s key platform for knowledge sharing and exchange.
“We will be formally inducted into the network and also get the chance to share our views and experiences as a city, which is particularly important during this period of rebuilding after the pandemic.
“We are very grateful to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture (MOTAC) Malaysia for their support which has allowed us to send delegates in this first year of our membership,” Wee explained.
He also said this will be the city’s opportunity to brand itself within this collaborative network and tell the world about all of the amazing activities, events, and programmes that are currently underway in Kuching’s gastronomy and creative sectors, from both private and public agencies.
“This runs from foodpreneur programmes like Sarawak Gastronomy (Sago) incubator, to gastronomy conferences planned for the end of the year, like EAT (Edible Arts Training Centre) and Nyamai.
“Not to mention all of our festivals, including the Kuching Festival, which is returning soon. We want to do our best to represent our city as a whole,” Wee added.
Furthermore, he mentioned that the Kuching delegation is made up of Datin Dona Drury Wee, chairperson of the Culinary Heritage and Arts Society Sarawak (CHASS) and a representative of civil society, and Karen Shepherd, the newly appointed focal point of this (City of Gastronomy) project and a representative of the creative economy itself.
“This is how Kuching as a City of Gastronomy will be working going forward.
“It is very much a cooperative framework and we urge interested parties in the city to make contact with any information or activities that they would like to share with the network,” the mayor pointed out.
UCCN Kuching will be holding a forum on July 13 to engage with the city’s stakeholders and collect their feedback before the delegation departs.
This will be opened to anyone involved in either the gastronomy sector or the city’s creative industries, where they will be given an opportunity to share their experiences.
For more information, please contact the UCCN Kuching team on kuchingcreativecity.com. — DayakDaily
