World Craft City

About World Craft City:

• It is a groundbreaking initiative launched in 2014 by the World Crafts Council AISBL (WCC-International) in recognition of the pivotal role local authorities, craftspeople, and communities play in cultural, economic, and social development worldwide.
• It establishes a dynamic network of craft cities across the globe, aligning with the principles of the creative economy.
• Under the World Craft City Programme, Jaipur (Rajasthan), Mammalapuram (Tamil Nadu) and Mysore (Karnataka)have been added as craft cities from India.

Some of the famous crafts from Srinagar

• Papier-Mache: It refers to the art of making an object from mashed and molded paper pulp. The object so made is traditionally painted and usually covered with a layer of lacquer or varnish.
• Pashmina: Shawls, Kani, Sozni: The Pashmina fabric, hand spun and hand woven, emerged from the picturesque landscape of Kashmir.
• Sozni shawls: Sozni embroidery is one of such arts that have its origin into the geography of Kashmir. The word Sozni is a Persian derived word which means needle and sozankari, the needle work. The person who performs this craft is called the sozankar. 

Key facts about World Crafts Council

• It was founded by Ms.Aileen O.Webb, Ms.Margaret M.Patch, and Smt. Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay in 1964, as a non-governmental and non-profit organization.
• The main objective of the World Crafts Council is to strengthen the status of crafts in cultural and economic life.
• Aim: The Council aims to promote fellowship among crafts persons by offering them encouragement, help, and advice.
• It fosters and assists cultural exchange through conferences, international visits, research study, lectures, workshops, exhibitions, and other activities.

Q1: What is UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network (UCCN)?

The UCCN was created in 2004 to promote cooperation among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development. It now includes 350 cities in over a hundred. countries.

Source: Srinagar’s ‘World Craft City’ tag, allows Kashmir to re-connect globally