The team from Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland (TRACS) and music students from Sgoil Chiùil na Gàidhealtachd, the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music based in Plockton, head off to Kaustinen in Finland this February as part of an educational exchange with Kaustinen College of Music, and to witness first-hand the work the team at the Finnish Folk Music Institute does to safeguard Finland’s Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH).
Kaustinen, which is home to the world renowned Folk Music Festival, is best known for its four century-old fiddling tradition. Since 2018, the team at the Finnish Folk Music Institute has been working as one of UNESCO’s expert advisors on ICH to help safeguard this fiddling tradition and Finland’s other unique cultural practices.
In December last year, TRACS received initial confirmation of its own successful application to become an accredited NGO advisor on ICH – a tradition, practice, or living expression of a group or community including oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events and traditional crafts.
Now keen to make valuable personal connections with its opposite numbers working in the fields of ICH across the globe, TRACS hope to gain a better understanding of practices, and will be documenting the trip to allow them to report back and share their findings with partner ICH organisations in Scotland and the wider UK.
TRACS’s appointment as an expert advisor to UNESCO means that they are recognised internationally for the work they have been doing on ICH and, along with Museums and Galleries Scotland, are the only two organisations in Scotland with expertise in the field. Along with Historic Environment Scotland and Creative Scotland, they are part of the ICH Scotland Partnership Group that was set up to safeguard ICH in Scotland and drive forward UK ratification of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for Safeguarding of ICH.
This convention has already been ratified by 180 countries worldwide, and in December 2023 the UK announced their intention to ratify it following the outcomes of a consultation by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. This live consultation will inform the UK government’s strategy for recording and safeguarding ICH and will gather opinions from the public and organisations across the UK on the types of cultural practices and traditions that should be protected and sustained for future generations.
Link to survey: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/2003-unesco-convention-for-the-safeguarding-of-the-intangible-cultural-heritage
Director of TRACS, Steve Byrne, said “We are delighted that the UK has now agreed to ratify the UNESCO ICH Convention. It helps shine a light on the wealth of cultural traditions practised and treasured in local communities the world over, but which often go neglected by the mainstream. ICH is in many ways what might be called ‘everyday culture’ and it is crucial that we work to support the ways in which communities see themselves and make sense of the world around them through music, dance, story or craft. A huge amount of work has taken place internationally over the past two decades on ICH safeguarding so we are keen to learn from our friends in Finland ways in which Scotland can look after its traditional cultures most effectively.”
Irene Brown
Radio Summerhall Arts 