Umngeni Howick
About the Creative City:
Umngeni Howick lies along the Midlands Meander tourist route dedicated to crafts and folk art. The city is home to over 170 craftspeople working in a wide variety of fields, including ceramics and sculpture. The city supports its artists, as demonstrated by its backing of the Zulu Mphopomeni Tourism Enterprise programme. Entirely community-led, the programme ensures the economic viability of craftspeople and helps to safeguard and revitalize Zulu culture. The Creative City has strengthened its partnership with the Midlands Meander association to support the development of its craft industry. As part of this collaboration, 50 craftspeople have been trained and plans are underway to develop an online platform to support craftspeople in selling their wares.
Umgeni Howick's designation as a Creative City is part of a drive to develop its efforts for local craftspeople. The city plans to create an Indaba craft festival, inspired by the Indaba design festival in Cape Town, which is also a UNESCO Creative City. The latter is clearly aimed at raising the profile of local craftspeople and at encouraging intercultural dialogue, by inviting craftspeople from other Creative Cities. Umgeni Howick would also like to set up a second festival, this time focusing on the craftspeople upholding Zulu culture. In doing so, the city is aligning its policy with the work undertaken by UNESCO to support indigenous people.
Added value:
As a Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art, Umgeni Howick is dedicated to:
Strengthening international cooperation between cities that have identified culture and creativity as key factors in sustainable development and social cohesion;
Increasing its support for the creation, production and distribution of cultural goods in the local area, particularly crafted goods; and
Fighting poverty and socio-economic inequality by facilitating access to crafts and folk art for all.
