Walk of Fame for Port of Spain

Music Zones, a Port of Spain Walk of Fame and a carnival museum may soon be established in the capital city.

The plans are initiatives conceptualised after the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) named Port of Spain the sixth city in the Caribbean to join its Creative Cities Network.

Other Caribbean countries with designated creative cities are Jamaica, Haiti, The Bahamas, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

The network comprises of 246 cities throughout the world.

Being a part of the network as a creative city of music means the city, in theory, will focus on its cultural and creative sectors as an anchor for development.

Trinidad and Tobago applied for Port of Spain to be designated as a creative city in June and UNESCO approved it, along with 65 other cities on October 30.

The process was led by civil society and initiated by consultant Carla Foderingham who asked the city corporation for its support.

Port of Spain Mayor Joel Martinez, addressing the small audience at City Hall, said the aim was to revitalise the image of the city by focussing on culture and tourism.

"If we want to progress as a country and as a city, then our capital city cannot remain the same."

Martinez said it was suitable that TT be designated as a creative city of music as almost every festival that passes through the city streets has some sort of musical accompaniment.

He hoped to use the cultural foundation already set by the creative sector to execute a four-year action plan between 2020 and 2023.

The action plan will look at making Port of Spain a 24-hour city with nightly events, live music and cultural centres.

Benefits of being a UNESCO creative city

The UNESCO fact sheet on its Creative Cities Network says becoming a creative city provides the city with strategic opportunities to stimulate and innovate local policies towards creativity and strengthen international outreach.

It reads almost like a LinkedIn for cities but without the private messaging.

The sheet says it allows cities to strengthen its international profile and leadership, by providing visibility for innovative policies, strategies, and activities towards creativity and sustainable cities.

It also says it allows cities to increase its regional and international attractiveness to economic investors and stakeholders, skilled creative professionals or visitors, and facilitate the mobilisation of financial resources from the public and private sectors.

There are other stated benefits, including access to a twinning programme.

The twinning programme is one of the things Martinez is looking to take early advantage of and he is looking specifically at twinning with Shanghai, a partnership that he expects would support the Chinatown initiative.