MUSEUM NEXT

Joanne Orr

Museums Galleries Scotland

Intangible Cultural Heritage in Scotland: - A Paradigm Shift?

Museums Galleries Scotland: Who we are

• MGS represent over 350 museums and galleries from Scotland’s most

northerly island to the most southerly part of the Borders

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• MGS represent the largest visitor attraction sector – over 25 million

visitors, and over £800 million in value to the Scottish economy

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• 158 independent museums including 7 regimentals, as well as 31

local authorities, 11 university museums and 3 national membersin MGS membership

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• More than 270 Registered or Accredited Museums and Galleries

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• 50%+ of workforce are volunteers demonstrating a passion and

commitment to their local heritage

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350 museums and galleries all over Scotland...

? Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)

. . . living practices,

representations, expressions

knowledge, and skills- as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts

and cultural spaces associated therewith -

that communities, groups and

individuals themselves

recognise as part of their

cultural heritage

. . . central to their identities

In 2008 Museums Galleries Scotland commissioned a research team from Edinburgh Napier University‘s Institute for Creative Industries to:

• Scope Intangible Cultural Heritage activities in Scotland

• Map support mechanisms in place to safeguard ICH

• Review, evaluate and make recommendations:

– on best practice in enhancing participation of communities, groups (and individuals) in the management of ICH, and

– on the roles of key stakeholders, including public, private and third sector bodies in supporting ICH in Scotland

Background to ICH inScotland Project

Recommendations

• an ‘inclusive’ definition of ICH should be used in terms of level of participation, diffusion, and ethnicity

• recording ICH in an inventory is the first step towards ensuring that ICH is safeguarded

• safeguarding of ICH should take the form of supporting through education channels/ community groups

• Collaboratively inspired and driven

• Community centred and owned

• Inclusive of all / accessible to all

• Unforced / uncontrived

• Celebrates community diversity

• Promotes community cohesion

• Puts heritage in the context of shared spatial & social identity

The Approach to ICH in Scotland

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• Pro-active & aggressive re-presentation of

fragile and ‘at risk’ Galician ICH

• The result is another version of ‘hyper-reality

• Produces pseudo-events as in theme parks

• Or prescriptive – Austria 3 generation rule,

Croatia 2 generation rule

ICH in Scotland uses a participative Wiki-based

approach

Different Approaches

Online Inventory of ICH in Scotland

• Collection of web pages

• Flexible: can manage changing priorities

• Free software

• Ease of data entry

• Attractive for end users

www.ichscotlandwiki.org/ Wiki

www.ichscotland.org/

Inventory of ICH inScotland

http://ichscotland.org/

Website

www.ichscotland.o

rg/

Elements and Environment

Knitted Fish project, part of

the Deirdre Nelson residency

held at Taigh Chearsabhagh

in early 2008.

Fish and long line

hooks

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Meeting in Stornoway

Timespan Museum and Art Centre - A Fishtastic Festival Day and night events inspired by the fishing industry which has shaped the community. Workshops, fish-tasting BBQ, children's parade and a ‘fishy debate’.

ICH inScotland: a summary

(The UK is not signed up to the UNESCO Convention)

• ICH is alive and well in Scotland

• ICH is embedded at community

• People in Scotland are comfortable with ICH

• Starting point for the ICH wiki is heritage as

a dynamic process not a fixed end product

contained in a building.

• ICH is reliant on community knowledge and

contribution

• if institutionalised it ceases to be ICH

www.festivalofmuseums.com@FestofMuseums

www.museumsgalleriessscotland.com@MuseumsGalScot

www.ichscotland.org/