The main creative event of the spring was held in the region from 25 to 30 April. It was organized by ANO "Cluster of Creative Industries", the Center for Social Innovations and the Fund for Creative Technologies "Ulyanovsk - the Cultural Capital".

The 1st International Creative Industries ART-Residence brought together young architects, artists, designers, musicians, filmmakers, as well as novice IT and media professionals at its creative venues. Over 250 creative people from 22 regions of Russia and several foreign countries, including Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, Moldova, Great Britain, Spain, India, China and South Africa, came to Ulyanovsk to work in collaboration with leading industry experts.

One of the seven areas of the ART residence was architecture and urbanism. The event in this direction was held on April 28 in the regional architectural center - the House of the Architect, which is located at the address: Karla Marksa, 15. This place has become a point of attraction for all creative youth, a point of contact for students, practicing architects, creative citizens and officials. The Architect's House includes five spaces: a co-working area, an exhibition space, a coffee break room, a chill-zone, and the first (and, so far, the only) mock-up workshop in the city of Ulyanovsk. The room in the very center of the city serves to unite creative youth - lectures and workshops, meetings of the first Youth Urban Planning Council in Russia, online concerts, exhibitions of local artists, student practices and much more are held here.

Dmitry Shatskov, moderator of the Center for Applied Urban Studies, acted as the regional curator of the event, and Mikhail Priyomyshev (Cherepovets), an environmental architect, designer and head of architectural workshops, acted as the main expert. The team, consisting mainly of students of the College of Urban Planning and Law, had the task of developing an architectural concept for the third building of the Kontaktor plant, on the basis of which it is planned to create a large creative cluster.

For three days, the participants of the art residence were thinking about creating a new creative cluster on the territory of the Kontaktor plant. On the first day, the participants visited the territory of the plant and reflected on the meanings, metaphors, emotions and spirit of this place. On the second day, the guys were looking for an artistic image through layout, created and presented several cardboard layouts showing the main idea of ​​their project. Further, on the third day, the participants grounded their developments on the presentation format, created specific design solutions.

During the meeting, Natalya Dashuk, head of the Ulyanovsk – UNESCO City of Literature program, told the students about the UNESCO Creative Cities network and what the UNESCO Creative City status means for the city and its sustainable development. The UNESCO Creative Cities Network is a project launched by UNESCO in 2004 to "promote collaboration between cities that have recognized creativity as a strategic factor in their urban development". According to UNESCO, cities designated as creative cities work together towards a common goal to "place creativity and cultural industries at the center of their development plans at the local level and collaborate actively at the international level."

The students were able to watch a video with a master class from the Sav studio and its founder, based in Goa. Also, the office of this studio is located in Mumbai, a UNESCO Creative City, which participates in numerous international projects and is a clear example of the creative business of a creative city. And this is a vivid example of how UNESCO creative cities cooperate with representatives of various creative industries of the city!