July 12, 2005City gains global renown as center of creativity (Santa Fe New Mexican Editorial)
So much of what Santa Feans and our many visitors love about this place is its creative spirit. Our art, our architecture, our music, dance and drama; our scholarly research and writing ; even our debates over issues great and not-sogreat — all seem to be carefully guided by the muses.
Our community for years has caught national and global attention, and our creative aura invariably is part of it.
So when UNESCO last week declared Santa Fe the first United States city in its Creative Cities Network , it was yet another confirmation that this place is truly special.
Representatives of the United National Educational , Scientific and Cultural Organization came to town in support of the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market, the second staging of which outdid its remarkably successful first year.
UNESCO's Creative Cities Network was in its early stages when our community played host to the first Folk Art Market last July. UN officials said they'd welcome an application for charter membership in the network.
City Councilor Rebecca Wurzburger, Tom Aageson , executive director of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation, and a few other energetic Santa Feans went to work building a case for our community . The United Nations had been asking applicants to focus on a single strength — but Santa Fe, fresh from our successful Design Week and about to open the second Folk Art Market, was chosen for both specific reasons.
We'd guess there were plenty of peripheral reasons as well: Milagros del Corral of Spain, UNESCO's top cultural official, was captivated by our town during last year's event. So she kicked off this year's market by announcing that Santa Fe would join Edinburgh, Scotland, and Popayán , Colombia, as the world's first designated creative cities.
This could lead to all kinds of attention from the world of arts — and gatherings of international groups to focus on their cultural and economic effects.
The idea of documenting, quantifying and making the most of arts and culture has been much on the minds of Santa Feans in recent years. So when Milagros del Corral raised the notion of “creative tourism” to various Santa Fe hosts, she struck an appealing note.
Even defining such a term will be a challenge — and perhaps it will become one of those loose youknow-what-I-mean labels for the many things this community and others do to intrigue and attract creative people, as visitors and as residents.
Recent studies have identified arts and culture as Santa Fe's greatest stock in trade — yet were quick to note that it's hard to know what to do with that realization.
Perhaps now, in league with other cities recognized for their creativity, Santa Feans can — to the extent that it's necessary — direct some of our enormous creative energy onto higher plateaus of achievement.
By its very nature, creativity can't be neatly pigeonholed and quantified, any more than it can — or should — be controlled. But it's a big world out there, and we can learn from the experiences of other creative centers; likewise, they can learn from us.
We congratulate Councilor Wurzburger, Tom Aageson and all who saw this creative-cities link-up as the ideal match — and international honor — that it is for Santa Fe — and did so much to forge the connection .Susan McKinsey
Public Affairs Department
MSC01 1170
Hodgin Hall, 2nd floor
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0011
Telephone: (505) 277-5813, Fax: (505) 277-1981
