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Global Cultural Districts Network (GCDN)
is a federation of global centers of
arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...
and
culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Ty ...
. Its members represent cities, cultural districts, and cultural institutions from around the world, including Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, China, and Singapore. 4/sup>


History

GCDN was founded in 2013 by Adrian Ellis, and established by AEA Consulting, the New Cities Foundation, and the Dallas Arts District. Beatrice Pembroke was appointed as Director in March 2018 and Adrian Ellis is chair. The network's formation was stimulated by a series of conversations among cultural leaders, who were aware that, though forums for cultural institutions to meet and discuss common issues did exist, there were none for those responsible for cultural districts.


Members

GCDN's 50+ members represent cities, cultural districts, cultural institutions, non-profits, foundations, and private initiatives from around the world, including Australia, the UK, Canada, the US, Dubai, China, and Singapore.


Members

GCDN's current members include: *
Abu Dhabi Department of Culture & Tourism The Department of Culture and Tourism was established in February 2012 by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, to replace Abu Dhabi's two main tourism and culture agencies, the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority and ...
– Abu Dhabi, UAE *
Adelaide Festival Centre Adelaide Festival Centre, Australia's first multi-purpose arts centre and the home of South Australia's performing arts, was built in the 1970s, designed by Hassell Architects. The Festival Theatre opened in June 1973 with the rest of the centr ...
– Adelaide, Australia * Alserkal Avenue – Dubai, United Arab Emirates * Arizona Arts, University of Arizona – Tucson, USA * Auckland Live – Auckland, New Zealand * Better Bankside
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, UK * Brooklyn Cultural District (
Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...
/ Downtown Brooklyn Partnership/ Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance) –
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, USA * Canberra Theatre Centre – Canberra, Australia * City of Providence Art, Culture + Tourism Dept. – Providence, USA * Creative Estuary - Thames Estuary, UK * Culture Mile (
Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exh ...
/
Museum of London The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall Museum (fou ...
/
City of London Corporation The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the municipal governing body of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United King ...
) – London, UK * Dallas Arts District
Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...
, USA * East Bank at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – London, UK *
Exhibition Road Exhibition Road is a street in South Kensington, London which is home to several major museums and academic establishments, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum. Overview The road gets i ...
Cultural Group (Discover
South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with t ...
) – London, UK *
Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the ...
– London, UK *
Harbourfront Centre Harbourfront Centre is a key cultural organization on the waterfront of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated at 235 Queens Quay West. Established as a crown corporation in 1972 by the Government of Canada to create a waterfront park, it beca ...
– Toronto, Canada * HOTA, Home of the Arts – Surfers Paradise, Australia * Kingston Creative – Kingston, Jamaica * LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura – Lugano, Switzerland * Melbourne Arts Precinct (
Arts Centre Melbourne Arts Centre Melbourne, originally known as the Victorian Arts Centre and briefly called the Arts Centre, is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the central ...
/
Melbourne Recital Centre Melbourne Recital Centre is a venue for live music in Melbourne and welcomes over 200,000 visitors each year. The organisation programs and presents more than 500 concerts and events a year across diverse range of musical genres including classi ...
) –
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metr ...
, Australia *
MiSK Foundation Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Foundation (the MiSK Foundation) ( ar, مؤسسة الأمير محمد بن سلمان بن عبدالعزيز مسك) is a non-profit foundation established by Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman in 2 ...
– Kingdom of Saudi Arabia * MuseumsQuartier Wien – Vienna, Austria * National Heritage Board – Singapore, Singapore * Navy Pier, Inc. – Chicago, USA * Newark Museum of Art (NMOA) – Newark, New Jersey, USA * New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) – Newark, NJ, USA * New World Symphony, America's Orchestral Academy
Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which se ...
, USA * Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage – Lausanne, Switzerland *
Onassis Foundation The Alexander S. Onassis Foundation () was created by Aristotle Onassis to honor the memory of his son Alexander, who died at age 24 in an airplane crash in 1973. Aristotle Onassis died in 1975, and had directed in his will that half of his estat ...
Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, Greece * Parnell Square Cultural Quarter, Temple Bar – Dublin, Ireland * Perth Theatre Trust – Perth, Australia *
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust (PCT) is a nonprofit arts organization formed in 1984 to promote economic and cultural development in Downtown Pittsburgh. The "Trust" has focused its work on a 14-square block section called the Cultural District, wh ...
– Pittsburgh, USA * Quartier de la Création – Nantes, France * Quartier des Spectacles Partnership
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
, Canada * RAB/BKO – Brussels, Belgium * Sharjah Museums Authority
Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital of ...
, UAE *
Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge). It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nati ...
– London, UK * The Bentway Conservancy – Toronto, Canada * The Kuwait National Cultural District -
Kuwait City Kuwait City ( ar, مدينة الكويت) is the capital and largest city of Kuwait. Located at the heart of the country on the south shore of Kuwait Bay on the Persian Gulf, it is the political, cultural and economical centre of the emirat ...
,
Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the no ...
*
The Lowry The Lowry is a theatre and gallery complex at Salford Quays, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It is named after the early 20th-century painter L. S. Lowry, known for his paintings of industrial scenes in North West England. The complex op ...
/
Salford Quays Salford Quays is an area of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, near the end of the Manchester Ship Canal. Previously the site of Manchester Docks, it became one of the first and largest urban regeneration projects in the United Kingdom foll ...
– Salford, UK * The Masswascut Collaborative – Providence, USA * The Music Center – Los Angeles, USA * Theater District Houston
Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...
, USA * Times Square Alliance – New York, USA * West Kowloon Cultural District Authority
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
, China


Affiliate Members

GCDN affiliate members are organizations and individuals who share a professional interest in contributing to the governance and operation of international cultural districts. GCDN's affiliate members include: * BuroHappold – Bath, UK * Cistri, Singapore & Hong Kong – Urbis, Australia
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bo ...
,
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
, Australia * DesignSingapore Council – Singapore * Grimshaw – New York, USA * Jason Bruges Studio – London, UK *wHY – Los Angeles & New York, USA


Convenings

GCDN members are invited to regular convenings to share emerging best practices, hear expert panels, and discuss the place of cultural precincts and complexes in urban policy, economic development, and related areas of public policy such as technology, travel and tourism. Past GCDN meetings include: *GCDN Annual Convening,
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bo ...
– 2019 *GCDN Annual Convening,
Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics o ...
– 2018 *GCDN North American Regional Convening,
Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...
– 2017 *GCDN Annual Convening,
Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
, Spain – 2017 *GCDN Annual Convening,
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, beh ...
, New York – 2016 *GCDN Annual Convening,
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, UK – 2015 *New Cities Summit,
Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital city, capital and list of Indonesian cities by population, largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coa ...
, Indonesia – 2015. *GCDN Members Convening,
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
, Canada – 2015. *New Cities Summit,
Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...
, Texas – 2014.


Research

GCDN regularly commissions and publishes
academic research Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...
. Some of the network's publications include: *The Social Impact of Cultural Districts (2019) – A study and report commissioned by the Global Cultural Districts Network (GCDN) and written by Professor Geoffrey Crossick. *Governance Models of Cultural Districts (2018) – Research co-commissioned with the
University of the Arts London University of the Arts London is a collegiate university in London, England, specialising in arts, design, fashion and the performing arts. It is a federation of six arts colleges: Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea Coll ...
and conducted by James Doeser and Anna Marazuela Kim. *Beyond Concrete Barriers: Innovation in Urban Furniture and Security in Public Space (2018) – Research initiated by the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership and conducted by Jon Coaffee. *Cultural Infrastructure Index (2016-2019) – Annual survey seeking to measure investment in capital projects in the cultural sector. *Branding Cultural Districts and Destinations (2017) – Research co-commissioned with Future Places and directed by Juan Carlos Belloso.


References

{{Reflist


External links


Official site
International cultural organizations