#RhythmoftheCity was heard on Craftsmen Street
20 мая, 2023The Festival of Creative Industries has given impetus to the development of the urban creative environment. Even on its small scale, it was able to become a place of concentration of ideas and innovations, a place of meetings and discussions of representatives of different spheres to exchange experiences, projects and perhaps even to build new partnerships. One of the main missions of the Festival is to unite those who are interested in the present and future of the creative development of Osh.
“This is new for us. We tried to apply an innovative approach to the territorial development of the urban environment — creative place making — the creative development of territories. What does it mean? It is the use of creative entrepreneurship and cultural specifics of the territory by different partners in order to strategically shape its character and thereby accelerate economic development, promoting long-term social change and improving infrastructure,” emphasized Gulsana Abytova, the head of the Women’s Peace Bank Foundation.
The youngest participants and guests of the Festival were most excited about the variety of master classes. Akbii Dooronov showed how to mold interesting shapes with plasticine, Akinai Kushbakova together with the Festival participants was painting in watercolors, Kimiya Torogeldieva generously shared the secrets of kurak, Myrzagul Kypchakova showed how to make creative things from epoxy resin, Larisa Kuznetsova conducted an interesting master class on art therapy. Potters of Toy Art Studio demonstrated the mysteries of making pottery.
Music bands of the Osh State Music College named after Niyazaly, and the Department of Art of Osh State University performed a mini-concert in the open air. It is not every day that you can hear live music in the open air near the Suleiman Mountain.
Such events should be conducted on a regular basis in order to involve more people in the discussion and implementation of creative projects aimed at rethinking urban spaces and the development of creative startups. “If Osh Mayor’s Office, the private sector and other partners are interested in developing creative industries, platforms for exchanging ideas and experiences between practitioners it would be great. But for this we need to allocate funds from the budget, to work with different communities and practices,” the organizers note.
“The city definitely needs such events! They need to be held more often and regularly, so that citizens know when and where they will take place. Creative approach in organizing such events is very important, everything should be unusual, unique”, shared their opinion the guests of the Festival.
“The Festival site was located in such an interesting place, so in the future I would suggest organizing city tours through historical neighborhoods, telling about how craftsmanship used to develop in Osh. It would be great to combine the development of modern creative industries with experiences of the past,” said one of the Festival participants.
The Festival space should become a launching pad for new names in the future, where craftsmen, regardless of their experience, would share their knowledge with each other and create new creative collaborations. The whole area under the Suleiman Mountain, from Gapar Aitiev Street to Navoi Street along Kurmanjan Datka Street could become a space for craftsmen, artisans and all members of the creative industries in Osh. This was the idea that emerged after the Festival. The organizers of the first Festival of Creative Industries should take the initiative to create a platform for discussing new ideas and proposals.
