UNESCO integrates Santiago de Cuba into the Creative Cities Network

UNESCO announced the integration of 49 cities, including Santiago de Cuba, into the Creative Cities Network.

In a statement, the organization announced that its director general, Audrey Azoulay, had designated these cities for the exchange of knowledge and good practices.

Santiago de Cuba entered the list of 295 cities in 90 countries for its musical contribution, along with crafts, design, cinema, gastronomy, literature, and digital arts, among others.

Before that, two Cuban cities were integrated into the network: Havana (music) and Sancti Spiritos (crafts and folklore).

Casa de la Trouva. Photo: Afar Magazine.

The city brings together important elements of the musical value chain, which includes the tradition of instrument-making, the presence of carrier groups that embody authentic folk, Siboney studies of records and editions, the academic training of musicians and the presence of first-class groups from all shapes and types.

Besides Santiago de Cuba, Latin American cities such as Recife and Campina Grande in Brazil, Pasto and Ibague in Colombia, Huancayo in Peru, and Xalapa in Mexico have joined the Creative Cities Network.

They were also ranked as Abu Dhabi, Belfast, Bursa, Cannes, Doha, Gothenburg, Jakarta, Kermanshah, Kuching, Manises, Modena, Nakuru, Namur, Perth, Port Louis, Saint Petersburg, Srinagar, Tallinn, Tbilisi, Thessaloniki, Weifang.