Malang (malangkota.go.id) – Malang City has successfully achieved a brilliant achievement by qualifying for the top four of the 2025 UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) National Selection. This announcement was delivered directly by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia (Kemenparekraf RI) and the National Selection Committee (Panselnas) team for the World's Creative Cities to the Acting Mayor of Malang Iwan Kurniawan, ST, MM and the Head of the Regional Development Planning Agency (Bappeda) of Malang City, Dwi Rahayu, Monday, (23/9/2024).
This proud achievement is the result of hard work from all parties in Malang City, starting from the city government, creative industry players, to the community. With Malang City qualifying for the top four, it further opens up opportunities for Malang City to be recognized internationally as a creative city that has its own uniqueness and appeal.
Head of Bappeda Malang City Dwi Rahayu, who is also the Chairperson of the Creative Economy Committee (KEK) of Malang City expressed his gratitude for this achievement. "This achievement is real evidence that Malang City has great potential in the creative industry. We will continue to strive to improve the quality and competitiveness of Malang City's creative products so that they can compete internationally," he said.
UCCN is a UNESCO initiative that aims to promote cooperation between cities around the world that have creativity as a key factor in economic and social development. Cities that are members of this network will share knowledge and experiences in developing creative industries.
After making it to the top four, Malang City will take part in the next selection stage which will be conducted by UNESCO. This stage will involve a more in-depth assessment of various aspects, such as government commitment, community support, and the potential for developing creative industries in Malang City.
Through the news of the qualification of the top four representatives of the World's Creative Cities, Panselnas and Kemenparekraf will return to visit the cities that qualified for the top four, including Malang City. The plan is that this visitation will be held in Malang City on September 25-27, 2024.
With Malang City passing to the fourth stage of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network National Selection, it is hoped that it will have a positive impact on various sectors, such as increasing the growth of the creative industry and creating new jobs to improve the quality of life of its people, increasing the tourism sector, and increasing the image of Malang City in the eyes of the world as a creative and innovative city.
In addition to Malang City, other regions that made it to the top four are Makassar City, Ponorogo Regency, and Tangerang Regency. Malang City itself has submitted itself to become the World Creative City 2025 in the Media Art category. This category was submitted by Malang City reflecting on the great potential of Malang City's creativity in Media Art, such as the abundance of programs and initiatives as well as events related to media art. Starting from the Mbois Festival, Malang Flower Carnival, Visual Post, to various creative public spaces that can support collaboration and synergy from media art practitioners.
Malang City is also dubbed as the 'City of Talent', which means that Malang City has a myriad of potential talents who can create and innovate in this city. Moreover, supported by various shared creative spaces that can be utilized, Malang City is predicted to be a home for creative people to synergize with each other to become a world-class Creative City.
Source: https://indiekraf.com/kota-malang-lolos-4-besar-seleksi-nasional-unesco-creative-cities-network/
