THE new company set up to market York is to procure a six-month project to establish how to utilise the city’s UNESCO status to attract investment and boost business.

In December last year UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) designated York as the first UK City of Media Arts.

Now Make it York, a new company set up by the City of York Council to promote and attract investment, has been tasked with creating tangible benefits from the UNESCO status.

This month the Make it York team is procuring a six-month project to bridge the gap between the objectives in York’s bid to become a City of Media Arts.

Steve Brown, managing director of Make it York, said: “The creative and media arts team in York said if we get the UNESCO badge, there are a number of things we will commit ourselves to do.

“So the obligation now is to deliver. The UNESCO status is just a badge that puts us in very good circles, but there’s no money with it, so what do we do now?

“That’s where Make it York comes in. We are tasked with helping to get this from a series of projects into something more tangible.

“We will be looking for individuals and organisations that can do that crucial piece of bridging work in the middle, establishing what we can do with that UNESCO opportunity, as it’s down to us to do something with it.”

Mr Brown was speaking at a recent event organised by York Professionals, in which businesses were urged to make the most of opportunities offered by York’s UNESCO status as the newest member of the global Creative Cities Network.

Stuart Goulden, part of the team that put together York’s bid, said: “It’s an exciting time to be in the city. UNESCO will hopefully unlock the enormous potential York has.

“While the universities have invested in our industry, we don’t always keep the talent here.

“Often our graduates have to look elsewhere for jobs, and that’s something we hope to change.

“This new sense of pride isn’t worth anything if we keep it to ourselves.

“York is now connected to 68 other creative cities in the world.

“They have their doors open to York, opening up new tender and export opportunities.

“At the same time we can bring the world to us, and attract new talent to the city.

“It’s great for York to be at the forefront of such an emerging art form.

“We are right at the beginning of something, and we are leading that in the UK.

“It will hopefully bring new investment.

“We are already having new conversations that we previously just weren’t having.”