In the Rijeka City Hall on Friday, representatives of 22 cities signed a charter for the launch of the Creative Cities of Croatia project, which is aimed at the development, cooperation, and evaluation of practices as well as the exchange of experiences in promoting the strengthening of creative and cultural activities.
Rijeka’s Mayor Vojko Obersnel stated that every gathering of cities is beneficial, primarily due to the exchange of experiences, or to present what someone has done that others have not.
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He mentioned that in the program of the European Capital of Culture in 2020 in Rijeka, one segment emphasizes the development of creative industries, as their importance for the city’s development has been recognized. For this purpose, he announced, the space of a former paper factory covering about 3,000 square meters will be arranged for the development of the creative start-up industry, into which approximately five million kuna will be invested from EU funds for the Rijeka urban agglomeration project.
The Mayor of Zabok, Ivan Hanžek, as a representative of the Association of Cities, stated that creativity is the industry of the future and that cities, which have the task of elevating many aspects of society, should pay much more attention to this area.
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The President of the Croatian Cluster of Competitiveness in Creative and Cultural Industries, Ivana Nikolić Popović, speaking about the significance of this type of industry, emphasized that they are the third strongest economic sector in Europe. This cluster and the Association of Cities are the organizers of the charter signing.
