By Luke Voogt
City Hall’s set for more international travel after joining a UNESCO Creative Cities Network this week.
City investment and attraction director Brett Luxford “expected” that a council delegation would fly to Poland for the network’s annual meeting next year.
Participation in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network Summit was a condition of admission, he said.
“If designated, the City shall ensure the participation of a delegation … including at least one representative.”
Next year’s summit would be in France’s Enghien-les-Bains before Fabrino, Italy, hosted the event in 2019.
The network’s webpage lists a host of design summits, film festivals and “creative” conventions in cities across the world, including Montreal, Rome and Buenos Aires.
City Hall was in the “very early stages” of developing a series of local events to enhance Geelong’s standing in the network as a “design” city, Mr Luxford said.
“These events place Geelong in a network of like-minded international cities and pave the way for our region to develop exciting new collaborations that will benefit our community.”
A dedicated secretariat would likely manage the new events, Mr Luxford said.
Various government and industry sources, including City of Greater Geelong, would fund the secretariat, he said.
Mr Luxford believed that Geelong’s admission into the network as a city of “design” would create international business opportunities and local jobs.
The network comprises 180 cities from 72 countries working to place creativity and cultural industries at the forefront of their development plans.
Geelong justified its application to the network through council administrators’ 30 Year Clever and Creative Vision.
The development of the vision cost more than $500,000.
“The community of greater Geelong have driven the concept of a clever and creative city-region to frame our strategies over the next 30 years,” Mr Luxford said.
The network membership acknowledged Geelong’s history in the textile, automotive and surf industries along with new innovations in advanced manufacturing, he said.
“Being designated a UNESCO Creative City of Design opens up national and international networks and creative opportunities to increase our profile on the world stage.”
Council candidate and former mayor Bruce Harwood was sceptical on whether the membership would produce “tangible outcomes”.
“What outcomes can we get other than another discussion or consultant’s paper?” he asked.
Australian Centre for Innovation and Design, the Victorian Government and Deakin University supported the application.
Deakin Vice-Chancellor Professor Jane den Hollander said the Design City designation put Geelong in a group of “like-minded” cities.
“We are excited by the opportunities this will bring Deakin University to continue to grow our cutting-edge design research and help drive innovation in local business and manufacturing.”
