HISTORY

Creative Nassau was formed in 2008 by the late Jackson Burnside III along with a group of creative Bahamians who wished to showcase their unique Bahamian culture to the world, whilst actively developing a Creative Tourism model to ensure that by the year 2020 more persons will travel to The Bahamas to experience its art, culture and heritage rather than just its sun, sand and sea.

It is now run by a small four-member Team of passionate Bahamian cultural advocates: President and co-founder, Pam Burnside; Vice President, writer and historian, Patricia Glinton-Meicholas; Communications & Marketing Manager, Neko Meicholas; and Photographer and writer, Rosemary P. Hanna.

CREATIVE NASSAU RADIO SHOW

In March 2015, Creative Nassau's Pam and Patti, President and Vice-President respectively, began hosting a weekly Radio Show in Nassau  to talk about cultural and creative issues, compliments of Sir Charles Carter, owner of Island FM 102.9. The radio show airs every TUESDAY from 7-7.30pm, is re-broadcast on SUNDAY from 5-5.30pm, and can be accessed online at www.islandfmonline.com.

You can listen to the first recording for 2016 below, which aired on January 2. The other radio broadcasts will be posted to this website on the CREATIVE NASSAU RADIO SHOW page.

UNESCO CREATIVE CITIES DESIGNATION 

In March 2014, Creative Nassau made application to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) for Nassau to be designated as a Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art and was successful in obtaining this membership on December 1, 2014!  Nassau is extremely honoured to be one of the first of two cities in the Caribbean region to have obtained this designation. At the time there were only three cities in the region so honoured: NASSAU,  Bahamas and JACMEL, Haiti for Crafts and Folk Art. KINGSTON, Jamaica was designated in 2015 for Music.

As of 2022, there are now an additional five UNESCO Creative Cities from the region: HAVANA, Cuba (2019) Music; TRINIDAD, Cuba (2019) Crafts & Folk Art; PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad & Tobago (2019) Music; SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (2019) Music; and SANTIAGO, Cuba (2021) Music

The December 1 announcement by UNESCO's Director General, Irina Bokova listed Nassau as an official Creative City http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/creativity/creative-cities-network/

Visit the UCCN website at http://en.unesco.org/creative-cities for updated information on this worldwide Network. 

The UNESCO Creative Cities Network currently CONSISTS OF ALMOST 300 Members from MORE THAN 80 countries ALL AROUND THE WORLD covering THE SEVEN creative fields OF: Crafts & Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Music, and Media Arts.

As a member of this prestigious worldwide Network, Creative Nassau President, Pamela Burnside attended the 2015 UCCN Annual Meeting held in Kanazawa, Japan from May 25-28, along with the City of Nassau's 'Mayor' Mr Gevon Moss of the Downtown Nassau Partnership. 143 delegates from 32 cities were in attendance.

The 2016 10th Annual Meeting for the 116 UCCN Members from 54 countries took place September 14-16 in Ostersund, in the region of Jamtland Harjedalen, Sweden which was designated in 2010 as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy. This Meeting was attended by President, Pam Burnside, Vice-President Patricia Glinton-Meicholas, and Mr 'Mayor' Gevon Moss.

At this time The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) consisted of 180 Members from 72 countries covering the seven creative fields of: Crafts & Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Music, and Media Arts.

The City of Nassau is extremely honoured to be one of the first of two cities to have obtained membership in 2014. Currently there are only six cities in the Region so honoured: Nassau,  Bahamas; Jacmel, Haiti; and Trinidad, Cuba for Crafts and Folk Arts, and Kingston, Jamaica; Port of Spain, Trinidad; and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic for Music.

From June 10-15, 2019 Pam Burnside, President of Creative Nassau, represented the City of Nassau at the XIII Annual Conference in Fabriano, Italy under the theme “The Ideal City”. The Minister of Tourism and Aviation, Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar joined the Conference for the Opening Ceremony and the Mayor’s Conference at the beautiful Teatro Gentile. Pam was honoured to make a presentation entitled “Building on the Power of Culture for Inclusiveness” at one of the Panel Sessions along with the Cities of San Cristobal, Turin and Wuhan.

As always the Conference was a magnificent exposition of networking, sharing, and educational opportunities. Thank you Fabriano for such a wonderful experience!