2023 IYF on Creativity and Heritage Along the Silk Roads & Changsha Media Arts Festival Kicks off
The 2023 International Youth Forum (IYF) on Creativity and Heritage Along the Silk Roads & Changsha Media Arts Festival opened on June 26 evening.
Gabriela Ramos, assistant director-general for social and human sciences of UNESCO, delivered a video address at the opening ceremony. Chen Jie, vice minister of education and director of the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO, delivered a written speech. Zhou Haibing, vice governor of Hunan Province and acting mayor of Changsha City; Albertus Aochamub, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Namibia to France and permanent delegate to UNESCO; Shahbaz Khan, representative and director of UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office for East Asia; Qin Changwei, secretary-general of the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO; Luo Changjun, deputy secretary of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC) attended the opening ceremony. Chen Peng, Standing Committee member and Publicity Department director of the CPC Changsha Municipal Committee, presided over the opening ceremony.
Changsha Vice Mayor Xiao Zhengbo, permanent officials of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt and Senegal to UNESCO, 18 representatives from seven member cities of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, and 62 youth representatives from 46 countries along the Belt and Road participated in the opening ceremony.
Before the opening ceremony, a media art fantasy poem performance was staged, showing the extraordinary charm of Changsha's media arts.
The 2023 IYF on Creativity and Heritage Along the Silk Roads is co-hosted by UNESCO, the World Federation of UNESCO Clubs, Centres and Associations, the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO, the Changsha Municipal People's Government and the Nanjing Municipal People's Government. It is the first on-site IYF since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic three years ago. The agenda contains a gathering of Chinese and foreign youths, an opening ceremony, high-level forums, youth discussion sessions and group discussions, a parallel forum involving representatives from Creative Cities Network member cities, youth sharing sessions, and sessions to explain the results of the discussions. Besides, a light show along the Xiangjiang River, a drone show featuring new media arts, a Xiangjiang River tour, and intangible cultural heritage hands-on activities will be organized, allowing participants to feel the unique charm of Changsha as a "City of Media Arts". These activities will build a bridge of cultural exchanges and mutual learning and continue to expand the international influence of Changsha.
