Katowice City of Gardens was created on the 1st of February 2016 due to a merger of the Cultural Institution Katowice – City of Gardens and the Krystyna Bochenek Cultural Center in Katowice. Its statute responsibilities among others involve cultural, publishing and educational activity as well as organising artistic events. The latter includes international festivals such as Katowice JazzArt Festival, Gardens of Sounds, Katowice Street Art Festival, Ars Independent Festival and the Interpretacje Festival of Theathre Directorial Art. Additionally, Katowice City of Gardens is responsible for the Microgrants programme, which focuses on supporting artistic project of the non-governmental organisations and various enterprises involving education and cultural animation, such as Medialab Katowice, Katowice Bureau of Sound and “Plac na glanc” – a Silesian backyards’ revitalisation initiative. In December 2015 Katowice became UNESCO City of Music as a part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. Since then, the key task of the institution is to follow the UNESCO programme.