میراث ناملموس چادر شب بافی؛ شهرستان گرگان – استان گلستان
Tehran ICH Center in collaboration with Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHTO), organized the first phase of Community-Based Inventorying Workshop on Intangible Cultural Heritage, from 6-9 March, 2019, in Gorgan, Golestan Province
The workshop brought together 41 representatives from 26 different provinces. The workshop aimed at familiarizing the participants with the principles of inventorying, as well as awareness raising and strengthening the national capacities for ICH safeguarding.
In the opening ceremony, after listening to a few verses of the Holy Quran and the National Anthem of Iran, Mr. Reza Sojoudi; head of Tehran ICH Center welcomed the participants and started giving a brief description in regard to the procedure of the Centre’s establishment, and its objectives and obligations. In his speech, he addressed the objectives of the convention in terms of improving the capacities and the level of national and regional collaborations in safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage. Finally, he expressed his appreciation to the director-general of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of Golestan Province, Dr. Janet Blake – the international lecturer of UNESCO, the general directorate of Registration of Works and Preservation and Restoration of the Spiritual and Natural Heritage, and the colleagues in Tehran ICH Center.
Elsewhere in the opening ceremony, Mr. Ebrahim Karimi – the director-general of Golestan Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization – delivered his speech. Having welcomed the participants and giving thanks to the organizers of the workshop, he pointed out that conducting such workshops will realize the long-term objectives of Iran Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization. He also highlighted that nowadays the organization has a new look towards the elements of cultural heritage which builds up a bridge to connect with the local communities. He added that the presence of different ethnic groups in Golestan Province has played a substantial role in the integrity and closer connection of cultures and cultural heritage.
Later on, in the ceremony a short video was shown, which introduced Tehran ICH Center and gave a concise report on the Center’s programs since 2016. In the end, Mrs. Blake introduced herself and stressed the importance of holding the workshop. She indicated that after the workshop, the participants will be able to identify and inventory the elements of cultural heritage. Subsequently, the attendees introduced themselves and drew attention to several problems and challenges that exist in the area of inscribing intangible cultural heritage.
Dr. Blake began the first session of the workshop, giving a brief description on the importance of inventorying. She then went on introducing the principles of basic texts and the convention’s operational directives, with regard to the role of local communities, NGOs, and state agencies in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.
Following sessions were held in line with the topics of the agenda including:
The necessity and the importance of inventorying workshop; an introduction to community-based inventorying; the introduction of the 2003 convention for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage (convention 2003), and its objectives; The place of inventorying in convention 2003; Inventorying versus documentation; definition of safeguarding ICH according to the convention; The pillars of the convention; World inscription list of convention 2003; ICH funds; safeguarding ICH in an international level; International cooperation and collaboration; the benefit of implementing convention 2003; Convention’s key concepts; Importance and repetition of the terms safeguarding and ICH; identification and definition of ICH and its domains from the convention’s perspective; translation of ICH in different languages; examination of case studies, and so forth.
Throughout the workshop, participants were divided into different groups and practiced in the areas assigned by the international lecturer. At the end of each session there was a Q&A part in which the participants discussed the challenges they had in their specialized area.