Peel X were delighted to receive an invitation to exhibit at The UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO at the beautiful Guildhall in York between the 7th and 9th November 2024.
York is a city where its outstanding renowned heritage meets a cutting-edge and a contemporary approach to creativity. The city’s rich history combined with its status as a UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts, acts as a powerful catalyst to attract, encourage and help grow York’s cultural and creative sectors.
As part of a network of 246 Creative Cities around the globe that have identified creativity as a strategic factor in sustainable urban development, York is one of only 12 UNESCO Creative Cities in the UK and is unique in being the UK’s first and only UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts.
In 2020, the city launched a new Culture Strategy – York’s Creative Future, with inclusion and participation at its core, aimed at showcasing the city’s commitment to ensuring culture is relevant and accessible to everybody in York regardless of age, background or postcode.
The culmination of this strategy and York’s recognition as one of UNESCO’s Creative Cities, gave rise to the birth of York’s unique UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO, organised by Aesthetica Magazine. The EXPO was a national first and celebrated 10 years of York’s world-class designation as the only UNESCO City of Media Arts in the UK. This accolade is unique and highlights York as a global stage for creativity.
As a UNESCO Creative City, York has committed to:
– strengthening the creation, production, distribution and dissemination of cultural activities, goods and services;
– developing hubs of creativity and innovation and broadening opportunities for creators and professionals in the cultural sector;
– improving access to and participation in cultural life, in particular for marginalised or vulnerable groups and individuals;
– fully integrating culture and creativity into sustainable development plans.
So, after Jessica Wright’s recent appointment to York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority’s newly created Business Board in October, The UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO offered a perfect opportunity for Peel X to showcase the business’ digital storytelling capabilities in a regional context – demonstrating some of our impressive projects and cutting-edge tech to visitors to the EXPO. The event was also a brilliant opportunity to network with likeminded entrepreneurs and the employees of some of York and North Yorkshire’s leading creative organisations. For visitors, the event offered an unparalleled opportunity to experience cutting-edge work happening in the region and speak with the creators making waves in the UK’s creative industries.
During the EXPO, the city really came to life through film, game, design & VFX with the EXPO showcasing 25 businesses from local area, all operating on national and international levels. The team of Jessica Wright, Susannah Daley, Richard Dawson and Laura Thompson were all on hand to speak to visitors across the 3-day event. Visitors included school children, university students, creatives and businesses from across the north of England and further afield.
We were delighted to show off some of our recent projects and talk about the digital storytelling capabilities of Peel X. Recent projects showcased included The Discover Northallerton App, and our Dublin Discovery Trails App. Visitors to the stand got to see some of the Augmented Reality creations that form part of some of our digital storytelling journeys and try out Virtual Reality headsets that included our offerings for the Uist Virtual Archaeology Project and Gamechanger’s ‘Change Your Game’ Virtual Reality film.
Jessica Wright, Managing Director of Peel X said of the expo:
“One of the most wonderful things about the UNESCO City of Media Arts Expo in York, organised by Aesthetica Magazine, has been the discussions and time spent with young people from across schools, colleges and universities, not only in the York region but from much further afield. Sharing some of our projects with those enthusiastic young people, and seeing their reaction, has been wonderful. I hope they all left feeling inspired and better informed about the many and varied pathways into the creative industries and in particular, our passion, digital storytelling. Yorkshire really is a powerhouse of creative and digital innovation!”
Roll on UNESCO City of Media Arts Expo 2025!
Read more about the UNESCO City of Media Arts Expo 2024 here
To see the video trailer for the event, click here
