World Creativity and Innovation Day
Next: April 21, 2027
Try one new idea today.
The story
Where it comes from
World Creativity and Innovation Day began with a newspaper headline. In 2001 the Canadian creativity expert Marci Segal read 'Canada in Creativity Crisis' in the National Post and set out to give people a day to use their imagination on purpose. She chose 21 April, the eve of Earth Day, to link new thinking with a planet worth looking after, and the day was first marked on 21 April 2002. On 27 April 2017 the UN General Assembly made it a UN day (resolution 71/284), first observed by the UN in 2018.
How it's celebrated
Schools, companies and community groups run brainstorms, workshops, hackathons and idea challenges, and the UN uses the day to talk about the creative industries and fresh answers to old problems. Since 2006 the day has closed World Creativity and Innovation Week, which opens on 15 April, Leonardo da Vinci's birthday. The simplest way to join in is to do one ordinary thing a new way, then tell someone about it.
Did you know
- When the UN adopted the day, its resolution noted that people in more than 50 countries were already marking it.
- Singapore joined UNESCO's Creative Cities Network as a City of Design on 11 December 2015, alongside Bandung in Indonesia.
- The UN named 2021 the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development.
Coming up next
- Earth Day · April 22, 2027
- International Girls in ICT Day · April 22, 2027
- World Book Day · April 23, 2027
- International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace · April 24, 2027
- World Malaria Day · April 25, 2027
- World Intellectual Property Day · April 26, 2027