YOKOHAMA - Wednesday, 18 July, 2007 -- The “British Council: UK-East Asia Creative Cities Forum” will be held this coming Wednesday, 25 July, and Thursday, 26 July in Yokohama. Organised by the British Council, UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations, the gathering will feature participation by 11 countries and regions with a focus on Asia such as Japan, South Korea and Australia.

　The “British Council: UK-East Asia Creative Cities Forum” is a conference conceived to explore the theme of the “Creative City”, namely, how to most fully generate new regional value in the global era based on art, culture, industry and other resources distinctive to specific regions. The Forum is scheduled to promote debate on art and cultural policies and other subjects from creative perspectives, as well as exchanges and interaction with local artists and creators. The forum will also host inspections of key bases for Yokohama City art and cultural activities,

　The city of Yokohama has conducted original “Creative City” programs such as National Art Park Plan, and Subsidy program to attract artists, creators, video content producers and other businesses. The progressive characters of programs are also the reasons why Yokohama was chosen as the venue for the forum.

　On Monday, 23 July, the city of Yokohama will officially establish the “Creative City Advancement Council of Yokohama City”, an organization envisioned to further promote approaches aimed at realizing creative cities. To commemorate this bold new undertaking, a forum will be held on that same day under the theme of “New Strategies for Creative City Yokohama.” In the forum, Hiroshi Nakada, the mayor of Yokohama, will make a speech on cultural polices of Yokohama. Also, as the keynote speaker at this event, Charles Landry, a key advocate of the “Creative City” concept and the leading authority on urban cultural strategy, will address the topic of “Creative Cities of the World and Yokohama.”