(To Quoc) - Ha Long City (Quang Ninh) is striving to complete its roadmap to become a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) by 2027, two years ahead of the schedule set by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Ha Long is currently a unique city, "one of a kind" in terms of landscape, topography, and tourism resources; it is always an attractive destination for tourists, especially foreign visitors. Its appeal lies in Ha Long Bay, which has been honored three times by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage Site, one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature, and an International Geological Heritage Site.
Not only blessed with majestic natural beauty, Ha Long City also possesses rich and unique cultural and historical tourism resources, with 96 historical and cultural relics and scenic spots, 13 traditional and modern festivals, and the diverse culture of its ethnic communities. It has become a destination for national and international events such as: the 31st SEA Games, the Clipper Race 2023-2024, Abu Robocon 2024, and the 2024 Asian Police Taekwondo Championship…
According to Professor, Dr. Le Hong Ly, President of the Vietnam Folk Arts Association, Ha Long City is a highlight in the cultural flow of Quang Ninh province, with its famous beautiful beaches, island clusters, and bays, along with the unique cultural features of ethnic minorities, coastal and island cultures, and festivals associated with the spiritual culture of Truc Lam Buddhism. It is also the cultural capital of the coal mining region, containing many historical traces of Vietnam's once glorious mining industry. These cultural features need to be shaped to make Ha Long culture a truly significant connecting point for dissemination across various fields. This is also a unique cultural feature of Ha Long City from the perspective of industrial culture.
Professor Le Hong Ly also emphasized that the trend of cultural industries and creative cities is a direction many cities around the world are taking. Ha Long City has advantages in both cultural and creative industries with its existing potential and excellent space for organizing new cultural events, a place for the formation and also a great location for creative art installation activities. This is an important factor in building Ha Long City into a member of the UCCN, with the goal of being a driving force to enhance livelihoods and promote sustainable socio-economic development.
Being recognized as a creative city is not just a title, but also an opportunity for the government, the creative community, and local people to discover the city's strengths; it's a chance for Ha Long to continue planning and developing the city sustainably, raising awareness of the importance of creativity, the diversity of cultural expressions, and making good use of UNESCO's initiatives in culture, education, and science.
According to Mr. Nguyen Tuan Minh, Permanent Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Ha Long City, the locality has worked with the Department of International Cooperation (the lead agency), in coordination with the Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, on building the dossier for Ha Long City to join the UNESCO Creative Industries. Of the seven main creative fields of UNESCO that cities can register to participate in, Ha Long plans to focus on two areas: gastronomy and media arts. Initially, the focus will be on developing a creative city in the culinary field to build a dossier for UNESCO recognition.
Based on this spirit, Ha Long City is establishing a working group to build the dossier with the participation of experts and researchers in various fields. The dossier building will adhere to UNESCO regulations and guidelines and refer to documents from cities within the UCCN that have chosen similar fields. Simultaneously, surveys will be conducted to collect data and documents in related fields such as history, culture, architecture, and environmental resources; domestic and foreign experts will be invited to develop assessment reports on the chosen field and advise on dossier building; and study tours will be organized to one or two localities with significant achievements in the fields of gastronomy and traditional arts.
Simultaneously, Ha Long will organize seminars, thematic workshops, and international conferences to gather materials for building the dossier, consult on historical, cultural, and economic issues, and solicit opinions from experts and scientists on building a creative city. To enhance promotion, the city will create a website to publish content related to the "Ha Long - Creative City" dossier, including video clips, images, and articles. This will ensure comprehensive and up-to-date communication of documents and policies regarding the city's efforts to meet the nomination requirements, highlighting the message, policies, and information about Ha Long as a creative city in the future. A logo design competition will be organized, or a design firm will be invited to create a brand identity for "Ha Long - Creative City" to be used in the dossier development process and in the future.
Ha Long City will also build infrastructure to support the creation, formation, and dissemination of activities, products, and services in the fields of cuisine and media arts; organize programs to promote culture and creativity, as well as art education; and develop supplementary educational institutions, learning programs, vocational training, and tourism accommodation programs linked to experiences in the fields of cuisine and media arts.
"The nomination dossier for Ha Long City's participation in the UCCN must be based on scientific principles, synthesizing the policies and guidelines of the province and city, outstanding values, achievements, and future goals of the city in economics, culture, society, science, technology, art, education, etc., in accordance with UNESCO guidelines; at the same time, it must harmoniously combine traditional and modern crafts, thereby highlighting the identity and unique characteristics of Vietnam in general and Ha Long City in particular," Mr. Nguyen Tuan Minh emphasized.
Source: https://toquoc.vn/ha-long-xac-lap-loi-the-gia-nhap-thanh-pho-sang-tao-20250126091937674.htm
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