The European Heritage Heads Forum

The European Heritage Heads Forum is an informal professional network that brings together heritage authorities and experts to share knowledge and ideas, and promote coherence in the management of the historic environment in Europe in the 21st century.

The theme of the next meeting of representatives of the countries that make up the Forum will be the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Under the theme ‘Heritage: a living being’, the idea will be conveyed that heritage is a set of inseparable elements that function together as a living organism: monuments, landscape, agricultural, industrial and intellectual production, spirituality, tradition, knowledge, etc. Intangible heritage is the fabric that makes of all these elements the organic entity that cultural heritage is as an overall concept.

The event will take place from 27 to 30 September 2023 at the historical headquarters of the Archivo General de Indias (General Archive of West Indies), in Seville (Andalusia, Spain).

Teaching about and with ICH

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and the 70th anniversary of the UNESCO Associated Schools Network (ASP net), the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs of Greece, through the Directorate of Modern Cultural and Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Directorate of European and International Affairs respectively, are jointly organizing a hybrid dissemination event regarding the integration of intangible cultural heritage in school-based education.

The hybrid event is building on the joint UNESCO-EU project ‘Engaging Youth for an Inclusive and Sustainable Europe’ by disseminating its resources, such as the ‘Resource Kit for Teachers’ and the ‘Pilot Survey on the UNESCO ASPnet Schools in the European Union’.

The participants will be:

• Teachers of the UNESCO Associated Schools Network (ASP net) in Greece;
• Heads of regional primary and secondary education directorates, coordinators of cultural education, health education, environmental education and extracurricular activities, coordinators of ESD projects all over the country.

The morning session will be followed by an afternoon workshop, for teachers only, on how to integrate ICH in school-based education using the six-step approach proposed in the ‘Resource Kit for Teachers’, which aims at:

• Raising awareness of primary and secondary education teachers regarding the efficient use of the materials included in the ‘Resource Kit for teachers;

Wiki Loves Living Heritage

In 2023, we celebrate living heritage around the world!
Wiki Loves Living Heritage celebrates living heritage on the 20th anniversary of the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
In more than 180 countries across the globe inventories put the living heritage in their country into overview. Each year a number of these elements are also inscribed on the UNESCO Lists of Intangible Heritage. However, living heritage is not limited to elements inscribed on the lists or inventories, there is much more to celebrate!
This year, the Wiki Loves Living Heritage campaign calls on everyone to get involved in:

• Documenting Living Heritage
• Online campaigns with thematic or regional focus
• Local activities
• Collecting data about the heritage elements and making it available in hundreds of languages

ICH 20 Years – 20 Dialogues. 2003-2023: twenty years after the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of ICH

How has the protection of cultural heritage changed? A Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) with experts from around the world discussing it in 20 dialogues, in English or French.
The UNESCO Chair has produced a series of 20 virtual dialogues, each about 30 minutes long, to verify the impact of the UNESCO Convention on intangible cultural heritage in 19 different countries. The dialogues will be followed by anyone, in open source, freely and for free.

For those who wish, a certificate of participation can be issued to those who follow all the dialogues in MOOC version. To obtain it, it is necessary to send a registration email to unescochair@unitelmasapienza.it by Jan. 30, 2023, indicating one’s personal data, educational qualification, and the email address at which to receive communications and from which to access the dialogues.

10/20 years of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Double Anniversary of the 2003 Convention in Germany

UNESCO’s General Conference on October 17, 2003, in Paris adopted the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which the Federal Republic of Germany ratified ten years later, on April 10, 2013. In 2023, we thus celebrate the 20th anniversary of the international treaty as well as the 10th anniversary of its implementation in Germany. Conferences, exhibitions and further activities will be held in honour of this occasion at various locations, both nationally and internationally, to highlight the importance of the practitioner communities, strengthen cultural heritage networks and promote creativity.
The launch event of this anniversary year will take place on March 2, 2023, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm at the tanzhaus nrw in Düsseldorf. The event is aimed at cultural heritage practitioners, representatives of cultural policy, cultural administration and non-governmental organizations, researchers, students as well as other interested citizens. This is intended to explore and communicate ways in which the goals of the Convention, the safeguarding and appreciation of intangible cultural heritage as well as international cooperation, can be achieved ever more effectively. The programme includes presentations on the status of the implementation of the 2003 Convention, on cultural law and a case study from China. This will be followed by a panel and plenary discussion and workshops on topics such as intangible cultural heritage and migration, crafts, transmission of knowledge and skills - especially to and by young people.