Chiang Rai and Suphan Buri on road to joining creative cities network

Atikhun Kongmee, director of the Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Dasta), said a UCCN committee recently accepted the applications from the two provinces to join the network this year.

Chiang Rai applied to join the UCCN as a city of design and Suphan Buri applied as a city of music, Atikhun said.

The UCCN is a flagship city programme of Unesco. It was launched in 2004 to promote cooperation among cities that have made culture and creativity strategic drivers of sustainable urban development. Almost 300 cities from about 90 countries had joined the network as of last year.

The UCCN covers seven creative fields:

- Crafts and Folk Arts

- Design

- Film

- Gastronomy

- Literature

- Media Arts

- Music

Two Thai provincial capitals are already in the network. Sukhothai joined as a city of crafts and folk arts in 2019 and Phetchaburi as a city of gastronomy in 2021.

Joining the network brought international recognition to the two cities and increased the number of tourists visiting them, Atikhun said.

Dasta submitted applications for Nan, Suphan Buri and Chiang Rai to join the UCCN this year, but Nan’s application as a city of crafts and folk arts was not accepted, he said.

Atikhun said Dasta worked with officials from Chiang Rai and Suphan Buri on their applications to join the UCCN.

A Unesco committee agreed that the two provinces had implemented measures and developed proposals for their capitals to meet the criteria to join the UCCN and their applications were accepted.

As part of the preparations to join the UCCN, Dasta worked with the two provincial governments to draft five-year roadmaps for developing sustainability and generating interest among local people in their capitals.

The Suphan Buri roadmap focusses on local musical talent. Traditional music is part of daily life in Suphan Buri and the roadmap aims to train more local musicians in order to conserve traditional music.

Chiang Rai is home to many artists speicalised in historical Lanna design. They have inherited painting, sculpturing and architectural skills based on local wisdom, Atikhun said. The roadmap will promote these design skills through a range of activities that will allow local artists to exchange ideas as well as connect them with international artists.