Two major cities in India have missed out on their chance to be a part of the prestigious UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) this year. While the dossier to support Chennai has been submitted by the government, dossiers for Mumbai and Lucknow could not be sent to UNESCO ahead of the June 16 deadline. As per UNESCO guidelines, each country can nominate up to three cities every two years to be considered for the list. The next opportunity for submission of dossiers for UCCN comes only in 2019.

The Ministry of Culture, during a meeting in March with officials from Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) — nodal agency for coordinating India’s nominations for various lists under UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage — had proposed to send dossiers for Chennai (for music), Mumbai (for films) and Lucknow (for gastronomy), according to those present in the meeting.