Urban Escape Project: Creative Market & Cultural Week
Community-Based Arts Festival · Public Education · Youth-Led Urban Experiment
Project Type
Community Arts Festival / Public Education Programme / Creative Market & Cultural WeekTime & Location
24 July – 2 August 2022Chaozhou Youth Cultural & Creative Centre
Chaozhou, Guangdong, China
Organiser
Escape Art Club (EAC)
Role
Chief Planner · Project Director
Cai Boxuan (Boosen Tsai)
Background
Urban Escape Project was initiated as Chaozhou’s first large-scale youth-led creative market and cultural festival, conceived and executed entirely by a post-2000 generation organising team. The project emerged from a shared sense of cultural absence in the city—an absence not of tradition, but of platforms for contemporary expression, participation, and encounter.
Rather than staging a conventional market, the project was designed as a temporary cultural experiment combining public education, contemporary art, music, film, craft, and community interaction. It sought to ask a simple yet urgent question:
What happens when young people reclaim urban space through culture?
Description
Spanning nine days, Urban Escape Project unfolded as a multi-layered cultural week integrating:
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Graffiti Art Exhibition and live mural painting
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Creative Market featuring local designers, artists, and independent brands
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Public Talks on urban culture, memory, and local history
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Film Screenings focused on locally produced documentaries and films
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Art Workshops, including Phoenix Dancong Tea Dyeing
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Live Music Performances, culminating in a charity jazz night
Public education formed the core logic of the project. Each programme was curated not as isolated entertainment, but as an entry point into broader discussions on local identity, urban memory, artistic practice, and cultural sustainability. Through talks, workshops, and screenings, audiences were invited to re-learn their city—its past, its overlooked cultures, and its contemporary creative potential.
The festival functioned as what the team later described as a “fleeting utopia”: a short-lived but intensive moment in which alternative modes of living, learning, and gathering became possible within the city.
Outcomes
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Duration: 9 days
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On-site attendance: 6,000+ visitors
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Online exposure: 200,000+ views
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Participating vendors: 18 selected creative brands
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Volunteers involved: 80+
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Widely reported by regional and national media, including Southern Daily and Chaozhou Daily
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Recognised as Chaozhou’s first youth-led creative market and cultural festival
Significance
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Established a new model for youth-led urban cultural initiatives in Chaozhou
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Activated public space through interdisciplinary cultural programming
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Demonstrated the role of public education within non-institutional art contexts
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Strengthened networks among local artists, musicians, designers, and cultural workers
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Positioned Escape Art Club as a key grassroots cultural organiser in the region