Tuesday 20thOctober 2020
13.30-16.30 Helsinki time / 12.30-15.30 Stockholm time
What is intangible heritage? How does the UNESCO 2003 Convention affect the work of museums in Nordic
countries? How can our museum engage with intangible heritage, that is represented in their collections, lived
by their audiences, embodied by their stakeholders? Who are the communities, groups and individuals
museums could work with?
Intangible cultural heritage is a bridge between traditional and contemporary cultural values. It is the living
expression of oral traditions, craft skills, artistic, social or ritual customs, knowledge and know-how handed
down to us by previous generations.
The UNESCO Convention on the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) has been ratified by
all Nordic countries. Active safeguarding work is being done in all countries and national inventories in each
country give visibility to many kinds of living heritage.
Webinar Nordic Museums and Intangible Cultural Heritage presents concrete tools for the museums to dive
deeper into living heritage and engage more profoundly with the communities, groups and individualsrelated
to it. Furthermore, case examples from several Nordic museums will be heard. Interactive workshops with
international professionals provide the participants with hand on tools to reflect on the work in their own
museums.
The inspiration for the seminar stems up from the recent three-year ICH and Museums Project (IMP) that
explored the interaction of museum work and intangible heritage practices in a comparative European
context, with partner organizations from Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Italy and Switzerland. The Project
also collaborated with the International Council of Museums, NEMO – Network of European Museum
Organisations and the ICH NGO Forum.
The webinar is organised by the Finnish Heritage Agency in cooperation with the Intangible Cultural Heritage
and Museums Project / Workshop intangible heritage (BE); Institute for Language and Folklore (SE); Arts
Council Norway; Danish Folklore Archives; Ministry of Culture, Iceland; Greenland’s National Museum and
Archive; Ålands museum (FI) and Cultural Ministry of the Faroe Islands.
The webinar will be held in English and it is free of charge. It is intended for museum professional, policy
makers, students, organisations working in the wide field of living heritage and others interested in the topic.
Register here for the webinar by 12th October 2020 the latest in order to receive the link to participate.
Programme (Helsinki time)
Chair of the day, Ulla Salmela, Finnish Heritage Agency
13.30 Welcome, Tiina Merisalo, General director, Finnish Heritage Agency
13.40 ICH and Museums Project, Kia Tsakiridis, Workshop intangible heritage (BE)
14.00 Experiences from Finland, Leena Marsio, Finnish Heritage Agency
14:15 Coffee break
14:20 Case studies from the Nordic countries
• Transmission of Storytelling in a Museum, Meg Nömgård, Storytelling Museum (SE)
• ICH in the Museum Strategy, Reetta Karhunkorva, Forest Museum LUSTO (FI)
• Sami Museum and Safeguarding Crafts, Anne May Olli, RiddoDuottarMuseat (NO)
• Museum ́s Role in Urban Development and Safeguarding, Guðbrandur Benediktsson, City Museum
Reykjavik, Iceland
• Challenges in Documenting ICH, Kirstine Møller, National Museum of Greenland
15:10 Discussion
15:20 Coffee break
15:25 Workshop in groups on how to decide what intangible heritage is relevant in relation to your
museum, on who to involve, and how to decide on the intensity of collaboration. Moderated by members
of the IMP team (Kia Tsakiridis – Workshop intangible heritage (BE), Sophie Elpers – Dutch Centre for
Intangible Heritage, Tamara Nikolić Đerić – Ecomuseum Batana Ecomuseum (CR)
16.10 Summing up of the workshops
16:20 Conclusions, Sergio Servellón, NEMO – Network of European Museum Associations
16.30 End of the webinar
More information on the work with the ICH and Museums project and toolkit:
• https://www.ichandmuseums.eu/en
Kia Tsakiridis, kia@werkplaatsimmaterieelerfgoed.be
More information on the work with the UNESCO 2003 Convention:
• Finland: https://wiki.aineetonkulttuuriperinto.fi/
Leena Marsio, Finnish Heritage Agency leena.marsio@museovirasto.fi
Staffan Beijar, Ålands museum Staffan.Beijar@regeringen.ax
• Sweden: https://www.isof.se/om-oss/levande-traditioner—immateriella-kulturarv-
/forteckningen.html Annika Sjöberg, Institute for Language and Folklore, Sweden
annika.sjoberg@isof.se
• Norway: https://www.immateriellkulturarv.no/ Hildegunn Bjørgen, Kultturådet – Arts
Council Norway Hildegunn.Bjorgen@kulturradet.no
• Iceland: https://lifandihefdir.is/ Rúnar Leifsson, Ministry of Culture, Iceland runar.leifsson@mrn.is
• Denmark: https://levendekultur.kb.dk/index.php/Forside
Marianne Holm Pedersen, Danish Folklore Archives mape@kb.dk
• Greenland: https://en.nka.gl/heritage/intangible-cultural-heritage/ Kirstine Eiby Møller,
Greenland’s National Museum and Archive kirstine@natmus.gl
• Faroe Islands: https:// www.livandimentan.fo Armgarð Weihe, Cultural Ministry of the Faroe
Islands ArmgardW@ummr.fo