The UNESCO version of the world’s creative cities has 7 categories, namely Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art , Creative City of Design , Creative City of Gastronomy, Creative City of Music , Creative City of Media Arts , Creative City of Literature , and Creative City of Film . To become a world creative city, a city must pass an assessment process that involves all elements of the ecosystem.
UNESCO recognition as a world creative city is an important achievement that can contribute to the global ecosystem. Therefore, Bantul Regency needs to carry out several activities that support efforts to become a UNESCO version of the World Creative City.
Bantul Creative Regency Status Towards UCCN 2023
In 2017, Bantul Regency was designated by the Creative Economy Agency of the Republic of Indonesia (Bekraf RI) as one of Indonesia’s Creative Regencies, and in 2022 by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) in the Creative Word program. Its leading sub-sector is Crafts which is side by side with other potentials such as fashion, culinary and performing arts.
Designation as a creative district at the national level will be followed by registration in the Creative Word program developed by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy. This program is the first step towards UCCN registration in 2023.
Data and information dissemination are very important for the development of the creative economy. Therefore, Bantul Regency has encouraged creative economic development programs and activities as one of the regional development priorities.
Creative Economy Locus Activation Through Development of Bantul Creative Park
In accordance with the 2022-2027 Bantul Regency Creative Economy Roadmap and Blueprint, activation of the creative economy locus is required to accelerate and bring together parties related to the development of the creative economy.
The first stage of activation is the development of a creative locus and infrastructure which is the initial target of the short-term program. Some of the activities carried out at this stage include developing the Bantul Creative Park by activating the Gabusan Art Market as a Creative Hub, developing collaborative work networks between creative loci based on Tourism Villages and Cultural Villages, as well as developing digital infrastructure to support creative city ecosystems.
Bantul Creative Park has the intention of creating a creative environment that can be used for the development of creative human resources, improving the quality of creative products, and forming creative product exhibition spaces.
The location chosen for this purpose was the Gabusan Art Market , which is located on Jalan Parangtritis, the main tourism route for Bantul Regency from Yogyakarta City. The volume of traffic on this road is quite dense because apart from being a tourist route, it is also used as the main route for the people of Bantul Regency to go to Yogyakarta City and Sleman Regency.
The function of the Creative Hub activation is as a place to accelerate the process of increasing capacity and strengthening the network of creative economy actors. The steps taken consist of identification, repositioning, and acceleration. Identification is a process to recognize the profiles and problems of creative economy actors.
Repositioning is carried out to increase the capacity of creative economy actors, while acceleration is a step to accelerate the development of the creative economy which is supported by all parties.
Bantul Inclusive Carnival 2023 as Initiative and Motivation for Creative Economy Actors in Bantul
Activities that will be held at the start of activation are inclusive craft workshops and craft carnivals. Inclusive Craft Workshops can be attended by the wider community, including vulnerable people such as the disabled, marginalized communities, and women, with the aim of increasing their capacity.
While the craft carnival is an expression of society in appreciating the creativity of craft creation in Bantul Regency. These activities will be held in the 2023 Bantul Inclusive Carnival .
It is hoped that these two activities will trigger the activation of other Creative Hubs more broadly. In addition, this activity also has an important role as an initiative and motivation for creative actors to become a node for other sub-sectors in the creative economy in Indonesia, including the 17 existing sub-sectors.
With activation at the Creative Hub, it is hoped that meeting rooms will be created that can be used for capacity building activities and strengthening networks of creative economy actors in Bantul Regency.