By Precious Mills
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Thursday 23rd March 2023)- Visiting UNESCO Consultant Nigel Encalada has applauded St. Kitts-Nevis for being a leading nation in continued work regarding the implementation of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) 2003 Convention for the safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH).“It was in 2018, that you in collaboration with your cultural communities, groups and individuals applied for and received international assistance to undertake public awareness and community based inventory.
Thus far St. Kitts and Nevis has been a leading nation for the implementation of the convention in terms of your community involvement in the creation of a national inventory and in terms of your international obligations for reporting on the convention’s implementation which is not a small undertaking at all,” he expressed.
He was at the time speaking at the St. Kitts and Nevis Intangible Cultural Heritage policy project launch-held on Wednesday 22nd March 2023, at the CUNA Conference Centre in Basseterreentitled ‘Safeguarding St. Kitts and Nevis Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) ‘Developing a National Intangible Cultural Heritage Policy’ 2022-2024.
Encalada continued: “Having gone over those wave markers over the past few years, you’re now embarking on another important initiative -the development of a national policy for national Intangible cultural heritage. As you continue to trail blaze, you must know that no nation in the English Speaking Caribbean has yet developed a policy and legislation dealing exclusively with ICH.Countries have developed national cultural policies but your work on ICH exclusively is a signal that your people are important.” The UNESCO official pointed out that Article 2 of the Convention defines ICH “as practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills as well as the instruments and artifacts and cultural space associated therewith that communities, groups and in some cases individuals because in some cases as you might discover, there are certain aspects of living heritage where in the world, there is only one practitioner left.” He pointed out that he has seen for instance in Djibouti one practitioner left in a ceremony regarding marriage rights.
He – LOCAL NEWS – 3 also noted that Djibouti successfully applied for funding to UNESCO to try to revitalize and safeguard that particular element where one practitioner is left.“So it’s just an example of what can be done under the convention,” Encalada commented. The UNESCO official congratulated the government UNESCO National Commission Consultant for continued work in implementing the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage.
He also congratulated what is now the Department of Creative Economy for undertaking the implementation of the second successful application for international assistance from the Intangible Cultural Heritage fund of the convention. According to Encalada: “The intangible cultural heritage transmitted from generation to generation is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment in direct interaction with nature and history and provides it with a sense of identity and continuity thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity and is manifested in the following domains… oral traditions and expressions, performing arts.” He went on to say: “As you hear these, think about your own landscape-oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals and festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe, traditional craftsmanship.
As is evident by your surroundings and by our own personal experiences, it does not long for you t realize that Stitts has a ric living heritage in spite of the fact that some of the are endangered but the convention is an opportunity to revitalize and to draw out tose cultural heritage practices that are endangered and at the risk of disappearing.” For more information individuals can visit facebook/ stkittsnevis ICHculture or www. culture. gov. kn Front Banner Image: Flipping action from the folklore presentation by the St. Peter’sActors during at the St.
Kitts and Nevis Intangible Cultural Heritage policy project launch-held on Wednesday 22nd March 2023 at the CUNA Conference Centre in Basseterre (Spokesman Snap)
