The Living Heritage Entity, in cooperation with the Section of Global Citizenship and Peace Education is looking for an individual specialist to prepare (i) a paper on how the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage can support educational efforts geared towards the promotion of global citizenship and (ii) a related proposal for a global project.

Expressions of interest should reach UNESCO by 29 July 2019. Please send your proposal to Mr David Chew, Capacity Building and Heritage Policy Unit of the UNESCO ICH Section (ej.chew@unesco.org), with copy to Ms Susanne Schnüttgen (s.schnuttgen@unesco.org) and Ms Lydia Ruprecht (l.ruprecht@unesco.org). The starting date of the contract will be agreed upon with the candidate selected.

See the call for further details.

The Digital ICH Observatory aims to produce, organise and analyse information about e-Inventories of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). A network to share knowledge and practices about ICH that is on the web.

The Conference “Protecting the immaterial: conferences on Intangible Cultural Heritage and Intellectual Property” will be held at the Museum of Navarra (Pamplona – Spain) on September 17 and 18. The conference is intended to be a meeting between professionals dedicated to the Intangible Cultural Heritage and people expert in Intellectual Property to analyze, debate and elaborate a decalogue of good practices on the adequate legal protection of these issues.

View the conference program (in Spanish)

Register for the conference

 14 October, Marrakech, Morocco

Are you coming to the ICOMOS Advisory Committee in Marrakech, Morocco, from 12-18 October this year? See http://icomosmaroc.org for details…

If so, we invite you as an ICICH member to offer a paper for a mini-colloquium (2 hours) we are holding in the evening of 14 October after our short Annual General Meeting.

The topic for the AdCom Symposium is Rural Heritage – Landscapes and Beyond, being on 17 October, with diverse papers related to many aspects of ICOMOS mulit-disciplinary expertise. Therefore our ICH focus at our colloquium is Rural Landscapes: Sustaining Intangible Cultural Heritage with Change? 

We seek papers that address this topic, for example:

Change is a constant, including in rural landscapes, whether from new technologies for food production, increase population diversiiy, or climate change. Come and share your story of change at a rural landscape and how the community/ies’ intangible cultural heritage has been retained, maintained, and sustained.

If you wish to offer a paper, please contact Marilyn Truscott <mct-oz@bigpond.net.au> with your offer with an abstract of 200 words by 15 July, and a short bionote of 100 words, with thanks. She is happy to receive it in English, French or Spanish, and yes presentations are also welcome in Arabic, and we will have an interpreter available. 

The deadline for offers of papers is 12 July, so that we can assess the offers and send you a reply by 19 July. Please note that if you are not currently planning to come to the meeting and we accept your offer, and you decide to come, the deadline for early registration payment is 31 July!

With thanks, and we welcome your input on this topic, and are looking to have our colloquium streamed online for all our members.

Reflexions on the key dispositif(1) adopted by Unesco’s Convention on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (Article 2.3). In these Comments, I initially situate the notion of ‘safeguarding’ in the context of transformations of other preservation instruments which it dialogues and to whose semantic field it belongs. Challenges to its implementation and possibilities opened by this treaty for the protection of what has been designated as ‘folklore and traditional (and popular) culture’(2) are addressed. After offering an interpretation of its textual meaning in the Convention, I seek to explore how this device is articulated to others in this Convention, and to reflect on its possible practical reach.

The expression ‘safeguarding intangible cultural heritage’ was formed within the context of transformations in the instruments and strategies for protecting cultural elements usually designated ‘folklore and traditional (and popular) culture’.(1) The adoption of a ‘cultural heritage approach’ to this subject was a somewhat turbulent process that drew, since the mid-twentieth century, a winding path of dialogues with, and divergences from, common sense notions and mainstream preservationist culture. Throughout this process, political and conceptual possibilities for social engineering were envisaged, some were discarded, choices were legitimized and, no less importantly, networks were formed of agents and narrators of the political and legal negotiations that eventually lead to designing UNESCO ICH Convention as officially adopted. This path will be explored in the following comments on the formation of safeguarding as a cultural heritage policy dispositive(2) and significant contrasts to other instruments, in relation to which it has acquired specificity, meaning and scope.

In September 2019, the first ever Heritage in Progress Conference (HIP) takes place in Gothenburg.

The theme of the conference is intercultural dialogue and how cultural heritage can be used as a potential tool to engage local communities and be a driving force for social sustainability.

Our ambition is to provide an intriguing conference with exciting guest speakers, dynamic workshops and an excursion to Tanum World Heritage Site and the unique rock carvings.

A diverse and dynamic program

During the conference we will take part of best practice examples, creative development and innovative ways to use our cultural heritage to amplify intercultural dialogue. We will hear from guest speakers from the Altamira World Heritage Site in Spain, The Derby Silk Mill – Museum of Making in England, challenges and successes from Laponia World Heritage in the North of Sweden, the archaeological site of Çatalhöyük in Turkey and much more.

You will also meet the World Heritage Watch, Bridging Ages and Unesco whom will share their perspectives on inclusion and engagement. We will also highlight the concept of Culture Labs and community-building in digital media. The program also includes a field trip to Tanum World Heritage and its unique bronze age petroglyphs.

It’s all about engagement, inspiration and sustainability

Heritage in Progress is a conference on how we can use cultural heritage sites as a catalyst and create an arena where the owners of the cultural heritage site, namely us humans, can meet and exchange ideas and use the heritage in an active way. This is highly visible if you take a look at the program for our three days together. There are a lot of focus on engaging people through exiting methods such as time travels and other tools to gain new ground and make the cultural heritage sites flourish with the help of the people living at or near the sites. I think all cultural institutions can gain from this conference program in one way or another.  

Welcome to Heritage in Progress, 11-13 September in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Web: www.heritageinprogress.se

Contact: Johan Gustafsson, project manager
Phone: +46 (0)72 450 42 94
E-mail: johan.d.gustafsson@vgregion.se

Cross-posting from the main ICOMOS website

Following the earlier call for the Scientific Symposium Co-Chair, which has since been appointed, expressions of interest are now invited for four (4) further volunteer positions as International Theme/Stream Co-Chairs for the Scientific Symposium to be held between 5 and 9 October 2020 as part of the 20th Triennial General Assembly of ICOMOS (GA2020) in Sydney, Australia under the overall theme “Shared cultures – Shared heritage – Shared responsibility”.

The four (4) subject areas for which International Theme/Stream Co-chairs will be appointed are:

• SHARED CULTURES: Communities – collaborative, consultative, contested
• SHARED HERITAGE: Multiple attributes, multiple values, multiple actors
• INDIGENOUS HERITAGE: Sharing, exchange, secrecy
• MINORITY HERITAGES: Shared or shunned?

Within each theme/stream a range of sessions may be offered covering different issues, in a variety of formats, and of varying lengths. Some sessions will be traditional ‘conference-style’ presentations whereas others may be less formal workshops or facilitated discussions. The Theme/Stream Co-chairs will be responsible for designing a series of coherent and dynamic sessions, as well as incorporating commitments made to project partners, through a wide-ranging consultative process.

Expressions of interest are encouraged from energetic, experienced, and engaged ICOMOS members who have suitable personal attributes, skills, and experience, including: a mix of appropriate practice-based and academic credentials, good connections within the cultural heritage sector, experience in conducting similar events and processes, a combination of creative and critical skills, team leadership, and demonstrated commitment to inclusiveness, ethical conduct and the ICOMOS Ethical Principles, as well as the necessary time and energy.

The Role of each International Theme/Stream Co-chair – includes to: 

1. Work collaboratively with the International and Australian Co-chairs of the GA2020 Scientific Symposium (Ona Vileikis Tamayo [ICOMOS Belgium] and Steve Brown [ICOMOS Australia] respectively).
2. Work collaboratively with the corresponding Theme/Stream Australian Co-chair to organise, develop, and implement symposium sessions.
3. Work collaboratively with the corresponding Theme/Stream Australian Co-chair to recruit and constitute a working group of up to five members responsible for the review of proposals for sessions, papers, and posters;
4. Recommend to the Australian and International Co-chairs on selection of sessions, papers, and posters; matters relating to timetabling; and development of symposium publications and documents.
5. Develop a scholarly paper for Historic Environment in collaboration with the corresponding Theme/Stream Australian Co-chair (to be published by August 2020 in advance of the GA2020 Scientific Symposium).
6. Advise on and contribute to publication processes and outputs following the GA202 Scientific Symposium.

Terms

The International Theme/Stream Co-Chairs will commence as soon as possible and will be expected to work consistently throughout the period from late 2019 into 2021. These positions are voluntary. Successful applicants are required to attend and register for GA2020, as well as cover personal travel and accommodation costs during GA2020. If eligible, financial support for attendance can be sought, for example through the ICOMOS General Assembly Travel Grants programme (but is not guaranteed).

Enquiries

Ona Vileikis [Email: ovileikis[at]icomosga2020.org]
Steve Brown [Email: steveb.heritage[at]gmail.com]

For more information about the GA2020 Scientific Symposium visit us at http://icomosga2020.org

Application information

Expressions of interest of no more than three (3) pages should:

• indicate the preferred Theme/Stream – from among the 4 listed above;
• state the reason why the applicant seeks appointment;
• indicate the relevant skills and experience of the applicant in relation to conference organisation and the selected Theme/Stream topic;
• indicate commitment to the available time and timeframe required;
• include a one-page summary CV; and
• be sent by 17:00pm Friday 7 June 2019 to the ICOMOS International Secretariat by email at secretariat[at]icomos.org 

Depending on the applications received, online interviews may be held and/or additional information may be sought from shortlisted applicants.

Note that a parallel process is being undertaken through the ICOMOS Advisory Committee to recruit Australian Co-chairs for each of the Themes and Streams.

The final report of the 2018 Living Heritage Conference is available for download (in French). The conference celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Conseil québécois du patrimoine vivant and attracted over 250 attendees. The report outlines the discussions of the various thematic working groups on elements of intangible heritage in Canada as well as reflections on the use of the Global Result Framework of the 2003 Convention. 

Join the Festival for a seminar in The Land of Legends on 13 and 14 June 2019 in Ljungby, Sweden.

The Storytelling Festival of Ljungby in Sweden is the oldest annual storytelling festival in the Nordic countries. Since 1990, storytellers, folklorists, and story-lovers have met here to share stories, and discuss topics related to transmission and safeguarding of oral tradition. This year, special attention will be given to that the Land of Legends was adopted to the UNESCO Register of Good Safeguarding Practice under the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage during the UNESCO committee meeting in November 2018. Therefore we would like to invite you to join us for a two-day seminar on the topic Oral Storytelling Tradition.

Each year, just before midsummer, Ljungby Storytelling Festival takes place. This year, the dates are set to June 13 to June 16. For four days, The Land of Legends will be filled with storytelling, music, workshops and lectures. During the festival, there is an easy to follow “English track” – where performances are held in English.

Visit the festival webpage for more information: www.ljungbyberattarfestival.se/