November 1, 2025 | 03:24 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay has designated 58 new cities as members of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) on the occasion of World Cities Day 2025. Two of them are from Indonesia: Ponorogo, recognized as a Creative City in the Crafts and Folk Art field, and Malang, recognized as a Creative City in the Media Arts field. With this designation, Indonesia now has seven UNESCO Creative Cities.
"The addition of Ponorogo and Malang confirms that Indonesia's creative ecosystem is growing not only in metropolitan cities but also in areas with strong cultural roots and dynamic digital innovation," said Satrya Wibawa, Deputy Permanent Delegate of the Republic of Indonesia to UNESCO in Paris, in a written statement on Saturday, November 1, 2025.
He added that this status is not just a ceremonial title, but an international cooperation mandate that must be promptly followed up through programs, festivals, research, and creative networks.
Reog to Digital Creative Economy
According to Satrya, Ponorogo's designation in the field of Crafts and Folk Art highlights the strength of its folk art, particularly the Reog tradition and its supporting crafts. This designation places Ponorogo into a global network of cities that promote crafts and folk art as drivers of sustainable development.
This designation affirms Indonesia's proposal to submit Ponorogo and Malang to UNESCO since 2024. As for Malang, Satrya stated that it falls under the Media Arts category due to its capacity in games, animation, digital storytelling, makerspace communities, and strong support from universities and the young creative sector in East Java.
"With this status, Malang can access best practices of other media arts cities, such as Changsha or Gwangju, while offering Southeast Asia collaboration based on local content," he said.
Before 2025, Indonesia had five cities as part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, including Pekalongan as a City of Crafts and Folk Art in 2014, Bandung as a Design City in 2015, Ambon as a City of Music in 2019, Jakarta as a Literary City in 2021, and Surakarta (Solo) as a City of Crafts and Folk Art in 2023.
With the addition of Ponorogo and Malang, the total creative cities in Indonesia becomes seven, positioning Indonesia as one of the diverse creative fields portfolios in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN), covering crafts and folk art, design, music, literature, and media arts.
"This is in line with UNESCO's focus for cities to make culture and the creative industry a driver of social resilience, investment, and community cohesion," he said.
This year, UNESCO added 58 new cities, bringing the UCCN network to 408 cities from over 100 countries. "For the first time, a new field, Architecture, has also been introduced, showing that UCCN is constantly evolving and relevant to current urban development agendas," he said.
The inclusion of Ponorogo and Malang as two of the 58 new creative cities in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network ideally should be followed up by relevant stakeholders to implement strategic steps.
"The city government, in collaboration with relevant ministries and stakeholders, should promptly implement a four-year action plan for Ponorogo and Malang in accordance with UCCN guidelines," said Satrya.
He also hoped that the cities involved would collaborate with other creative cities in Indonesia to establish an Indonesian Creative Cities Cluster within UNESCO.
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