The ICOMOS Ireland Annual Maura Shaffrey Lecture 2020 will be hosted by guest Speaker Clara Arokiasamy OBE on the topic of People and Place: Shared Heritage through Intangible Cultural Heritage, followed with a response by Virginia Teehan, CEO The Heritage Council.

The lecture will be preceded by the launch of Other Stories: Cultural Heritage and Society by Minister Malcolm Noonan.

Abstract

Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) plays a key role in expressing UK’s rich, diverse, vibrant, dynamic and constantly evolving heritage which consists of layers of shared heritage resulting from its history of invasions, empire, colonisation, migration and involvement in globalisation. These characteristics are most evident in the customs, traditions and living cultures expressed by the various ICH bearer communities across the UK. The lack of ratification of UNESCO’s 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage has not prevented the owners of these intangible values from practicing, sharing and passing on their knowledge and skills to their children, grandchildren and others in their communities on a daily, annual and seasonal basis. Using her experience of promoting ICH in her capacity as the founder and chair of ICOMOS-UK’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Committee and lessons learned from its pilot project “Exploring ICH in Museum Contexts” which was broadly framed within the UNESCO’s 2003 Convention, and exchanges with other nations over a number of years, Clara will briefly set out the following.

• Expressions of ICH in multicultural and multiracial settings

• The key issues and challenges associated with the safeguarding and promotion of ICH

• Why ICOMOS should be engaged with the safeguarding of intangible culture

Clara Arokiasamy

Clara is the President of ICOMOS-UK and is the Chair of its Intangible Cultural Heritage Committee which she founded in 2012. Her involvement, as a senior manager and non-executive member, in the planning and delivery of arts and heritage services in the UK spans local government, community sector, and Non-Government Departments, over a period of 25 years. She was Deputy Director Operations at the Heritage Lottery Fund, a member of the Culture Committee at the UK National Commission for UNESCO, Vice President of the International Committee for Intangible Cultural Heritage at ICOMOS International and a member of the Strategic Review Committee at ICOM International. She also chaired the London Mayor’s Heritage and Diversity Task Force and the Open University’s research board on Cultural Rights and Kenya’s New Constitution. Clara has consulted on cultural heritage in Europe, Canada and America for academic, community and arts and heritage sectors.

If you register for this event we will use the personal details you provide to help us manage the event and meet our information needs. We may also use the data to build our lists of people who may be interested in hearing about our programmes of events. By registering for this event you agree to this use. We will use your information with respect and keep it secure. You can ask us to delete or amend the data you provide us at any time. Please also note that this event will be recorded, and by registering for this event you agree to the use by ICOMOS Ireland of this recording.