Action Programme for the Safeguarding of ICH in Portugal

Transcription

1 Ministry of Culture Institute for Museums and Conservation Action Programme for the Safeguarding of ICH in Portugal The Institute for Museums and Conservation (IMC) is the central agency for the safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Portugal. Since its creation, in 2007, within the Ministry of Culture, IMC has developed a number of actions in order to foster the safeguarding of Portuguese ICH. Among the actions of the Programme for the Safeguarding of ICH in Portugal developed by IMC s Department of Intangible Heritage the following ones must be emphasized: Legislative measures: In 2009 and 2010 two legal texts have entered into force as the main legislative measures for the safeguarding ICH in Portugal. Both texts (Decree nr. 139/2009, of June 15 th, and Ordinance nr. 196/2010, of April 9 th ) develop the legislative scope previously defined on ICH, either by the Portuguese Heritage Law (2001) and by the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which was ratified by Portugal in One of the main issues defined by those legislative measures is the framework for the National Inventory for Intangible Cultural Heritage. Those legal texts have been produced with the collaboration of IMC. Lines of Action for the Safeguarding of ICH in Portugal 1

2 National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage: As one of its main tasks for the safeguarding of ICH in Portugal, IMC has recently developed the software that supports the Portuguese National Inventory for Intangible Cultural Heritage. This Inventory, a free-access online database meets UNESCO s demands regarding the widest possible participation of communities, groups and individuals in the safeguarding of ICH. The database fosters an integrated approach both to tangible and intangible cultural expressions. The Inventory database is accessible via internet since June 1, onwards on the Portuguese web portal for ICH ( The National Inventory is an inclusive platform that can be used not only by IMC but also by all kinds of institutions involved in the safeguarding of ICH in Portugal, either of documentation, scientific, educational and administrative scope. Cooperative work between all kinds of these institutions is considered by IMC as a major key factor for the success of this inventory to become, on one hand, a main awareness-raising instrument for the general public and to ensure recognition, respect for, and enhancement of ICH in Portuguese society and, on the other hand, to become a main instrument for conceiving and implementing specific programmes for the study, documentation and management of a given element of intangible heritage. Whereas many institutions involved in the study and documentation of ICH have been working separately by now, it is hoped that in data can be shared among them and made available to the respective bearers of ICH. Lines of Action for the Safeguarding of ICH in Portugal 2

3 This applies to all kinds of institutions, either of administrative scope municipalities, regional and national cultural administration or of scientific, educational and cultural scope, such as universities, centres for research and museums, which play a major role in documenting intangible heritage and in fact own the most important visual and sound archives on Portuguese ICH. The National Inventory s website is a reference for all Portuguese-speaking countries and communities given all the documentation it gives access to, namely the information on all the elements inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. Matriz 3.0: a Software for an integrated approach to tangible and intangible heritage As one of its main tasks, in November 2010 IMC finished the development of an updated version of MATRIZ ( IMC and Softlimits, S.A., ), its own software for inventory, management and dissemination of cultural heritage (both tangible and intangible) which is used in Portugal by over 100 institutions, namely by Museums, for inventory and management of cultural property. The latest version of this software (MATRIZ 3.0) complies is ISO 21127:2006 (Information and Documentation) compliant and fosters an integrated approach to tangible and intangible heritage ( Among its many features, MATRIZ 3.0 allows the documentation of ICH expressions, movable and immovable heritage, cultural and natural spaces. It also allows the management of photo, film, sound, drawing, cartography, text and oral archives, as well as the management of planning programmes for the safeguarding of cultural and natural heritage. Lines of Action for the Safeguarding of ICH in Portugal 3

4 Matriz 3.0 is also the software that supports the database of the Portuguese National Inventory for Intangible Cultural Heritage (see above). Among several of its features, Matriz 3.0 can be easily customized in order to be used in other languages besides Portuguese. Study and documentation of expressions of ICH: Since 2009 IMC has supported the study and documentation of several expressions of ICH in the domain of social practices, rituals and festive events. These actions have been developed in close relationship museums and universities. It is expected that these actions will greatly contribute to the inventory of those intangible expressions. Raising public awareness: Since it was created, IMC has endeavoured to raise public awareness regarding the importance of safeguarding ICH, namely in the framework of UNESCO s 2003 Convention. The major of these actions as a set of six conferences on Museums and ICH, which was been made from February to November 2008 and that was attended by more than 600 participants. This set of conferences revealed of utmost importance for IMC, given the fact that is constituted a global assessment of the Portuguese global framework for the setting-up of the national strategy for the safeguarding of ICH, namely the National Inventory. The proceedings of these conferences were published by IMC in 2009 (see Publications ). Besides participating in actions of national or international scope dedicated to ICH, thus trying to keep the pace with the many developments in this sector, IMC regularly disseminates updated information in its website ( such as safeguarding projects, Lines of Action for the Safeguarding of ICH in Portugal 4

5 educational activities, exhibitions, conferences, workshops and seminars. (Also on the subject of raising public awareness, see National Inquiry on Portuguese ICH.) Publications: From 2008 to 2010 IMC has published three works on Portuguese ICH. Museums and Intangible Heritage: agents, borders, identities ( IMC, 2009; 400 pages; illustrated) is the volume of the proceedings of the set of conferences made throughout It gathers the papers of the 33 authors that collaborated in the conferences and it constitutes by now one of the reference editions on ICH published in Portugal. IMC has also published two reference books on sources for the study and documentation of ICH, one of national scope (Bibliografia Analítica de Etnografia Portuguesa), and the other of regional scope (Roteiro Bibliográfico de Etnografia da Região do Oeste). Both publications are freely available for download in PDF format in IMC s website. A third study is currently in the making and is expected to be published in IMC has dedicated two of its editions in order raise awareness on the importance of to the importance of midwinter festivals in north-east Portugal, traditionally characterized by the presence of masked men. One of these editions is the first film published in the DVD collection Archives of the Intangible, directed by Catarina Alves Costa and Catarina Mourão, both important film makers in Portugal. A second film in this collection, dedicated to a religious expression in the city of Aveiro, will be published in this collection in Lines of Action for the Safeguarding of ICH in Portugal 5

6 The second of those editions is the book Por Detrás da Máscara ( Behind the mask ), an important work dedicated to the recent transformations of the tradition is the northeast Portugal, written by the anthropologist Paulo Raposo. National Inquiry on Portuguese ICH: In 2010 IMC launched a comprehensive inquiry on Portuguese ICH. The inquired organisations were Museums (139), Municipalities (408), Centres for Research of proved or potential relevance for the sector (40) and the regional administrations within the Ministry of Culture (7). As its main objectives, the inquiry intends: a) to raise public awareness on the importance of safeguarding ICH, namely among scientific, administrative and cultural organisations; b) to identify programmes and plans of action, either of regional or local scope, recently carried out or in the making for the safeguarding of ICH; c) to identify the existence of archives on ICH (either in film, photography, sound or text support), for which preservation measures, including digitization, must be adopted. The inquiry is as an essential tool for in-depth knowledge of the sector, thus allowing the definition of priorities for action, particularly on what regards the drawing up of safeguarding plans, either of local, regional or thematic scope. Upon completion of the treatment of the inquiry data, the results of the inquiry will be published by IMC. A Directorate of the more relevant organisations for safeguarding ICH in Portugal already was produced as the first output of this inquiry, and will be available on MatrizPCI, IMC s Portal on ICH and simultaneously the National Inventory for ICH. Training: As a certified training agency, IMC regularly organizes training courses on best-practices for the safeguarding of ICH. 9 training courses on ICH have been made throughout Portugal since 2008, and IMC has also has been asked to participate as a training agency in 4 Lines of Action for the Safeguarding of ICH in Portugal 6

7 courses for the iberoamerican countries, held in Madrid and in Lima. These training actions are destined to professionals from different areas, namely museum professionals. Institutional Cooperation: IMC is deeply involved in fostering close cooperation with other agencies of special relevance for the safeguarding of ICH. Besides having started to co-operate with institutions in Spain and in Latin American countries, IMC promotes national-wide coordination with universities, centres for research, museums, and most of all with the Ministry of Culture s set of regional bodies, which play an important role in safeguarding ICH in Portugal, given their close relation to municipalities. Contacts: Department of Intangible Heritage Institute for Museums and Conservation Palácio Nacional da Ajuda, South Wing, 4, Lisbon Portugal Phone: Fax: dpi@imc-ip.pt Websites: IMC: ICH National Inventory: ICH Inventory and Management Software: Lines of Action for the Safeguarding of ICH in Portugal 7