About Us - UNESCO EXPO

About Us .

Our Mission

Over the past year, Aesthetica’s Director, Cherie Federico, has been promoting the economic impact of the Creative Industries by launching key initiatives in partnership with businesses across York. These include: Reignite, a quarterly series of events focused on talent development and cross sector collaborations; the Creative Business Skills Academy, which supports York-based entrepreneurs; and the development of a citywide film in schools programme. York is a UNESCO City of Media Arts and the EXPO celebrates 10 years of this designation. It’s a showcase of the talent in this region and how businesses in the North of England are operating on a national and international scale. Now is the time to use our UNESCO designation to enhance opportunities, create educational pathways and drive economic change in the creative sector - building new opportunities for everyone.

UNESCO City Of Media Arts

York is 1 of 25 cities worldwide that was selected by UNESCO because of its outputs in Media Arts. Other global destinations that share this status include Austin, Texas; Sapporo, Japan; and Toronto, Canada. Our outputs in York are on a par with these global destinations. We need to offer progression routes and pathways into the creative industries. Reignite is a cross-sector vision that sees businesses of all sectors collaborating. This status should be embedded into the ecosystem of the city and all businesses – creative, heritage, retail, hospitality, transport and services – should unite behind our designation because collectively we can go much further.