Identify The Common ICH Suitable For Sustainable Economic Exploitation Across the AA

About Work Package 4

This work package aims to promote sustainable integrated management of ICH in the tourism industry. It aims to identify the ICH suitable for economic exploitation through tourism; while at the same time respecting, maintaining and promoting the diversity of cultural heritage and identity of local communities.

Regions and territories and the communities that live there have a ‘sense of place’ through the social and cultural impressions on it. Evidence shows that visitors are looking for this local community experience. It is through ICH that this project’s common areas, challenges can take advantage of common opportunities. The Atlantic Area has common ICH threads running through it. From this project development stage, it is clear that there are commonalities in ICH, and common threats facing that ICH. But this project intends to exploit those common opportunities. This work package intends to research the AA ICH, provide an inventory in order to allow the industry to sustainably use ICH for economic benefit for the people who live, visit and work in the AA.

To fully understand how ICH can be sustainably exploited for economic benefit, we need to understand its past and present, ICH changes as communities change.

The ICH inventory will encourage sustainable cultural management and empower groups and communities. The inventory will identify risks, and provide unique ways for this projects model to be used. This inventory will be based on the regional inventories.

Actions

WP 4.1 Analysis of the Tourism ecosystem inspired by the designated landscape in each region/ Evaluation of existing cultural routes. Identify the needs of destinations
Deliverable: Report and bibliographic data and documentary sources: Directory from community agents: Ecosystem Report [Internal document]

Beyond the economic point of view, tourism management in the context of cultural heritage must emanate from the social system of each territory. Thus, the designed methodology must let the project rest on the knowledge of and respect for the communities. They possess the ICH and they will receive the tourism flow, as well as the benefits of the experiences developed within the framework of the project.

To this end, firstly, it was necessary to carry out a detailed study of the socio-cultural ecosystem for each territory. This started with activity 4.1, which was designed at the University of Vigo. Each Partner was encouraged to research in their respective area, and to gather significant socio-economic and cultural indicators, and to integrate them in a report.

This report was completed with an analysis of the tourism ecosystem and cultural ecosystem under the methodology developed by the CIT of Cork. The conjunction of both methodologies allowed each Partner to know the potential of their cultural and economic network in the tourism area.

The present document has been elaborated from the corresponding reports from each Partner, which were submitted from September 2019 to January 2020. This document is a compendium of seven Atlantic areas to disseminate their characteristics, and the weaknesses and strengths in their tourism and ICH systems.

WP 4.2 Preparing a common ICH Inventory for Atlantic CultureScapes Areas
Deliverable: Collecting data for ICH inventory for Atlantic CultureScapes Project

The documents [Internal documents ] generated in Action 4.2. are:

• an inventory form for the collection of ICH elements in each region (which have been compiled in document 4.3.);

• a glossary, which has been designed as an internal working tool to facilitate a better understanding, by all partners, of the concepts and fields necessary for the completion of the ICH inventory forms in the regions involved in the project so as to facilitate a joint analysis of the intangible cultural heritage in the Atlantic Area;

• and a handbook to solve possible doubts. It explains basic concepts for carrying out the inventory, a common methodology for obtaining and collecting the information. Additionally, it contains a description of the essential values to be taken into account when carrying out ICH collections.

WP 4.3 Collecting data for ICH inventory for Atlantic CultureScapes project
Deliverable: Workshop for partners and Workshop for local agents and Collecting data for ICH Inventory for AtlanticCultureScape project [Internal document]

This document contains detailed information on the intangible cultural heritage elements recompiled in the seven regions involved in this project.  Each inventory form collects various pieces of information related to the identification, description, characterization of each heritage element, the related persons and organizations, the safeguard measures currently in place and other observations of interest for a detailed analysis of each element (and as a whole).

WP 4.4 Sustainable exploitation of ICH resources : organization and selection of ICH manifestation of Atlantic identity
Deliverables:

Report of Atlantic Significance [Internal document]

Once the heritage elements of each region had been recompiled, a joint analysis of the information obtained was carried out, with the aim of drawing up a proposal of Atlantic significance that was subordinate to the structural agents of tourism development: the project partners and the local communities themselves.

This document constitutes a tool capable of analysing the potential for tourism development within the framework of AtlanticCultureScape.

Guiding principles to help establish sustainability with the intangible cultural heritage entrepreneurial sector within the framework of AtlanticCultureScape project. [Published report]

The elements of the ICH being considered in the Project, as well as the measures taken to commercialise the elements, must be part of the overall human values. Each partner observes its applicable legislation and the precepts of its communities.

This document sets out the general principles of sustainability (environment, society and economy) in the ACS Project, as well as those linked to safeguarding the human values involved in the ICH.