A NEW international media arts festival will focus worldwide attention on York.

The Guild of Media Arts has announced the first York Mediale will take place in October 2018, with performances, installations and workshops around the city.

Organisers said the festival would take place every two years, and builds on York’s status as the only UK city to have the UNESCO City of Media Arts designation.

Steve Brown, managing director of Make It York, which has helped organise the festival, said it would "bring the UNESCO designation to life".

He said: "It’s about grasping this opportunity that UNESCO status offers for York and showcasing York’s creative talent in areas such as digital art, gaming, film and computer animation. It’s a chance for York to shine and we hope as many people as possible from across York and Yorkshire will get involved."

Organisations across the city will be involved in the festival, including the University of York, York St John University, York Museums Trust, National Railway Museum, City of York Council, Pilot Theatre, Science City York and Northern Film & Media, and will be funded by the universities, Make It York, the council and public and private sponsorship.

Creative director Tom Higham will develop the festival, and said it would push the boundaries of art, technology and participation.

He said: "York Mediale will be a celebration of digital art, performance, visual art, and everything in between. York provides a stunning backdrop for a cutting edge celebration of media art. The Mediale will highlight the creative technology sectors of film, TV, visual art, digital art, theatre, transmedia and multimedia performance, showcasing a quality of work never before seen in York, or in some cases, the UK.

"Most importantly the festival will celebrate York itself, the communities, the citizens, the businesses, the forward thinking and talented people who were the main reason it was awarded the City of Media Arts designation by UNESCO. We have already launched a major talent development programme in partnership with the University of York, are planning a major exhibition at York Art Gallery, numerous performances and installations at the National Railway Museum, a long term project in Tang Hall with Pilot Theatre, numerous large scale installations with artists from across the world and some ambitious plans for education projects across the city."

York is also bidding to host the 2020 UNESCO conference for the 116 designated world creative cities to coincide with the second Mediale festival, which would lead to worldwide exposure for the city.