Tel Aviv-Jaffa Joins UNESCO Creative Cities Network

The city of Tel Aviv-Jaffa has been designated one of the newest members of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for its accomplishments in, and development of, the category of "Media Arts."

Tel Aviv-Jaffa is one of twenty-eight cities from nineteen countries accepted by the network within one of its seven thematic areas: "Craft and Folk Arts," "Design," "Film," "Gastronomy," "Literature," "Media Arts" and "Music."

The now sixty-nine member cities in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network work together to promote creativity and cultural diversity, to share best practices, to strengthen participation in cultural life, and to integrate culture in sustainable urban development. Launched in 2004, the network aims to foster international cooperation between cities dedicated to investing in creativity and enhancing the economy through creative tourism.

Tel Aviv-Jaffa joins the network as a newly designated UNESCO "City of Media Arts," along with Dakar, Senegal; Gwangju, South Korea; Linz, Austria; and York, England, based on its dedication to developing cultural and creative industries using digital technology, integrating media arts as a means to improving urban life, increasing access to culture through digital technology development, and providing residency programs and studio space for media artists.

Israel has also been honored by UNESCO by being recognized as the home of nine World Heritage Sites, including Masada; the Old City of Jerusalem; the Old City of Acre; Tel Aviv's "White City;" the biblical tels of Megiddo, Hazor and Beersheba; the Incense Route – desert cities in the Negev (Haluza, Mamshit, Avdat and Shivta); Baha'i Holy Places in Haifa and the western Galilee; the sites of human evolution at Mount Carmel (Nahal Me'arot and Wadi-el-Mughara caves); and the Caves of Maresha and Bet Guvrin in the Judean Lowlands.

For more information about travel to Israel, visit www.goisrael.com.

 Photos courtesy of Dana Friedlander & goisrael.com.