Intangible Heritage and its Management

Intangible Heritage Intangible heritage is traditional culture, folklore,

or popular culture that is performed or practiced with close ties to “place” and with little complex technological accompaniment.

Intangible heritage requires the presence of traditional culture bearers to give it life.

The cooperation and participation of “folk” are prerequisites for the presentation of intangible heritage.

The cultural space is important, for intangible heritage is intrinsically linked to a place or context.

Removing the heritage asset from its context may affect its authenticity.

What is Leisure?

What is heritage intangible available for presentation?

Performance-basedEpisodic-FestiveSeasonal

ParticipatoryEnduringPracticed and competence-basedCompetitive non-competitiveDisplays distinctivenessExclusive but non worship

Assessment of the significance

The assessment of the significance of intangible heritage is crucial to planning for its management and the setting of conservation priorities.

In an ideal world, it would be carried out in the documentation, registration, and/or archiving stage before a management policy is devised.

Promotion of its cultural values to the wider community by appropriate dissemination or display would also be an important part of any management plan.

As a result, responsible marketing and commodification by the tourism sector should also be an important element of any conservation strategy.

Argentine Tango- early 20th century

Taconeando(Tango) Carlos Gardel y Orquesta Francisco Canaro, 1931

Commodification without managementArgentine social elites validated their

status through Paris latest daring dance in Paris.

Carlos Gardel, performed in Paris in the gaucho “national costume”

Rudolph Valentino from the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)

Renaissance of Tango with jazz influenced younger tango

Importance of Astor Piazzolla, lives in New York in 1930s returns to Argentina and composes tangos as a virtuoso bandoneon player.

Tango as demonstration Tango has become one of the contest dance styles of professional and semi-professional ballroom dance circuits.

Professional Argentine Tango

Globalization of Tango (Poland, 2008)

Carlos Gardel

Programming focuses upon the product, heritage focuses upon the

productionProgramming is a management component

Anything can be programmedIntangible programming relies upon a known basis of potential participants.

Programming responds to funding, but often anticipates fundingCultural programming is always local, even if the tourism base is national or international.The products of programming may be captured and recycled, but not completely as a tourism basis.