The workshop “Development of plans for safeguarding the intangible cultural heritage in Serbia”, aimed at increasing the capacity for safeguarding of living heritage in the Republic of Serbia, took place on May 23rd - May 26th at the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade.
The four-day workshop, which was implemented as part of UNESCO Global Capacity-building Strategy for Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage, was organized by the Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage of Serbia at the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade, in cooperation with the Regional Center for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Southeastern Europe under the auspices of UNESCO, based in Sofia and with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia.
The program of the workshop was adapted to the needs of institutional and professional work in implementation of the UNESCO Convention on the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Serbia, and it was aimed at improving the work of experts who are actively involved in the safeguarding of living heritage in Serbia and their training for further work on the development and implementation of preservation plans intangible cultural heritage. The workshop included both theoretical and practical parts and was realized in several thematic units, including an overview of the roles of different participants in the system of safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage and their mutual relations in the implementation of plans for the safeguarding of living heritage. Emphasis was placed on the practical preparation of plans for safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage in accordance with the Convention from 2003, starting from the role of communities in preserving their own heritage. In the practical part of the workshop, the participants had the opportunity to get to acknowledge and analyze programs for safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage that are implemented through the cooperation of institutions and heritage bearers, such as the workshops of traditional craft knowledge and skills in Manak’s House. Through conversation with the bearers and organizers of these educational programs, activities on the preservation of the crafts of opanak shoemaking, Kosovo embroidery, weaving skills and pottery were presented, and some of the aspects of their further development through the preparation of safeguarding plans were also reviewed.
The training program, guided by Dr Velika Stojkova Serafimovska and Dr Tamara Nikolić Đerić, facilitators from the UNESCO Global Network of Facilitators for Intangible Cultural Heritage, was attended by experts from the Network for the Preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage, representatives of institutions that proposed the elements entered in the National Register of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, as they are participating together in development and implementation of the program for the preservation of living heritage in Serbia.
The organization of the workshop “Development of plans for safeguarding the intangible cultural heritage in Serbia” is part of the activities of the Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage of Serbia aimed at improving the work on safeguarding the intangible cultural heritage and establishing cooperation between relevant institutions, local communities and individuals in the Republic of Serbia.
Authors of photographs: Ivana Masniković Antić, Danijela Filipović, Nataša Mladenović Ribić
