NEWCASTLE and Gateshead's bid for City of Culture status will come under the international spotlight this week.
Professor Chris Bailey, associate dean in the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Northumbria University, will discuss creative hotspots at an international conference in Sheffield.
Professor Bailey will join speakers from 50 organisations worldwide - including Vienna's Museums Quarter and the Johannesburg Development Agency - at the Creative Clusters conference, from tomorrow to Saturday.
He will focus on whether Newcastle and Gateshead have the right elements to be one of the eighth most creative cities in the world - a standing already awarded to it by Newsweek magazine.
The creative industries have emerged as some of the fastest growing sectors of the world economy.
Cities all over the world are looking to them to attract new wealth, to sharpen their city image and help social inclusion issues.
Professor Bailey said: "Newcastle Gateshead has been at the centre of creative development for many years now. It is in places such as these that conditions seem to be right for creating the new cultural hotspots."
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