Pam Burnside and Mary Ann Jones traveled to Paducah, Kentucky in September as delegates for the City of Nassau in the first Cluster Meeting of the UCCN Cities of Crafts and Folk Arts! Attended by 9 Cities of Crafts and Folk Arts, as well as candidate applicant cities, and a wide range of local and regional cities interested in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, the 5-day Conference was filled with an amazing array of presentations, events, demonstrations, field visits, videos and the warm southern hospitality of the people of Paducah, who have turned their city into a booming success by making Creative Tourism their economic engine! (You can listen to the CN Radio broadcast discussing the trip on the "Creative Nassau Radio Shows" page)
Paducah is home to the National Quilt Museum of America - quilting having been a catalyst for their successful transformation, along with their vibrant creative communities and healthy river industry. Mary Ann Jones, one of the founders of the Sew 'N Sews quilting group in Nassau, found the experience absolutely informative and enlightening, with the networking and connections obtained boding well for collaborative projects in the future.
Pam Burnside, President of Creative Nassau, enjoyed connecting with the other sister cities present from the Network and obtained valuable insight into Paducah's successful use of creativity which completely transformed the city into the thriving rural centre it has become! The conference ended with the official signing of the 'Paducah Declaration' which set out the Cluster's commitment to working towards the United Nation's 17 Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.
....and the days were filled with activities, insights, a plethora of valuable information, and amazing down home southern hospitality - THANK YOU, PADUCAH!!
See much more information on this event at the Paducah Creative City facebook page!
