Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage strengthened in eastern Cuba

7 February 2014

Intangible cultural heritage bearers from six Cuban provinces (Las Tunas, Holguín, Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo and Camagüey) will join members of the respective provincial councils and national cultural heritage institutions from 11 to 14 February in Santiago de Cuba to participate in a capacity-building workshop on the implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage at the national level.

The city is the birthplace of the dance, song and drumming from Haitian slaves known as Tumba Francesa – the only element that Cuba has inscribed to date on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The workshop is organized by the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean with the support of the Cuban National Commission for UNESCO, the National Council of Cultural Heritage of Cuba and the Curator’s Office of Santiago de Cuba, as part of a regional capacity-building programme funded through the generous contribution of Norway to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund. Members of the National Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Cuban Institute for Cultural Research are among the participants.

During four days, the UNESCO-trained experts, Adriana Molano Arenas of Colombia and Francisco López Morales of Mexico will provide intensive training on the objectives and key concepts of the Convention as well as on the obligations of States that have ratified it and the mechanisms for international cooperation it provides. The workshop will also include a hands-on experience concerning the Tumba Francesa.

More information: www.unesco.lacult.org

• Cuba,