UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Background

By the turn of the 21st century the content of cultural heritage has changed partially due to the initiatives and instruments developed by UNESCO. Cultural heritage does not end at monuments and collections of objects, but also includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants. Driven by this conviction, UNESCO hosted the Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention (ICH) in 2003 calling upon the member states to join it. Until today 178 countries have ratified the Convention.

What is Intangible Cultural Heritage?

“The ‘intangible cultural heritage’ means the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity. . . . The ‘intangible cultural heritage,’ as defined above, is manifested in the following domains: (a) oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vehicle of the intangible cultural heritage; [and] (b) performing arts . . . .”

The FMC launched a massive campaign with the help of its members throughout multiple national circus communities since 2012 encouraging them to investigate the registration procedure for ICH, which usually differs country by country. There is a UNESCO office and a responsible collaborator for ICH in the countries that ratified the Convention. FMC also makes itself available to offer both theoretical and/or practical help to individual circus communities throughout the application process. More specifically, FMC can assist applicants on three levels:

  1. Intergovernmental
  2. UNESCO representative
  3. Circus community
Since 2012 the following countries succeeded the inclusion of circus arts into their national inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO

Chile, 2022

DIARIO OFICIAL DE LA REPUBLICA DE CHILE
LEYES, REGLAMENTOS, DECRETOS Y RESOLUCIONES DE ORDEN GENERAL
Martes 26 de Abril de 2022

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Wallonia/Belgium, 2021

The story behind

In 2017, I learned that the City of Brussels was going to devote the year 2018 to the circus. When I went to the website dedicated to the festivities, I realised that the celebrations only concerned the contemporary circus, as if the traditional circus had never existed. Faced with this flagrant injustice, I contacted the authorities and obtained an appointment at the Heritage Department. Armed with a photo album of my family, some of whose documents proved the tradition of the circus in Belgium since the end of the 19th century, I went to the offices of the Ministry of Culture of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (French-speaking part of Belgium). While leafing through the album, the person in charge immediately recognised the cultural value of this heritage and encouraged me to write the dossier.
This dossier required a lot of work and I was able to count on the support of Belgian circus directors (Bouglione, European Circus Festival), but also on friends of the circus (Jan Ingelbrecht, Laurent Lavend’Homme). Mrs Zsuzsanna Mata also supported me in this process.
Nevertheless, it took several corrections spread over three years to submit the file in September 2020 and this was the beginning of a long wait for approval. Finally, in February 2021, I received a letter from the head of the Ministry who helped me so much (Marie Depraetere), informing me that the file was accepted and that the traditional circus was recognised as a heritage masterpiece in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.
After publishing the good news on Facebook, I received a shower of congratulations. I knew that this step would be beneficial for traditional circuses not only in Belgium, but in the whole of Europe.

Alain Gombert Chabri

Sweden, 2019

Finland, 2017

Hungary, 2016

Holland, 2013

Circus Culture as Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Dutch National Inventory.

The Foundation for Circus Culture was founded in 2012.

The board of the foundation is formed by:

    • Vereniging Nederlandse Circus Ondernemers = Dutch association for Circus Companies
    • Club van Circus Vrienden Nederland = Club of Circus Friends in the Netherlands
    • Stichting de Rijdende School = Foundation the School on Wheels

The Foundation aims:

a) To promote and maintain the Circus Culture.

b) To Form and maintain a partnership to promote the circus.

Invited to participate are organizations and individuals that endorse the objectives of the foundation.

Members of the partnership on 2 December 2013 are:

Circus Culture Foundation

  • Association of Dutch Circus Enterprises
  • Foundation Driving School – an organization for education of children from Circus and Fairs families
  • Club of Circus Fans in the Netherlands

Circomundo – Umbrella organization of youth circuses

Schools for Higher Vocational Education

  • Academy for Circus & Performing Art – Tilburg
  • Codarts – Circus City Festival and visiting address

Festivals:

  • Circo Circolo
  • Rotterdam Circusstad (Circus town)

European Circus Association

Catholic Chaplaincy for Fairground and Circus Work
University of Amsterdam – Special Collections
The Royal Theater Carré – Amsterdam
Websites:

  • Circus point – compass for contemporary circus
  • Circusweb.nl

One of the main activities in the last year was to nominate the circus culture on the National Inventory Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Netherlands.

Down here a summary of the way The National Inventory Intangible Cultural Heritage within The Netherlands is organised and about the way the Circus Culture Foundation worked on that subject.

In 2012 the government of the Netherlands ratified the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The Dutch Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage (VIE) has been assigned to implement this convention in the Netherlands, which includes the Caribbean part of the Kingdom.

The Dutch Ministry for Culture ordered them to map the intangible cultural heritage within the Dutch territory.

The results at this moment are:

  • a National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage within the Netherlands was drawn up.
  • a system was chosen by which heritage communities themselves could nominate elements for the inventory.
  • a safeguarding plan is an obligatory part of such a nomination,
  • a SWOT- analysis should be made by each applicant
  • ideas for solving eventual problems in passing on the tradition to younger generations should be mentioned.


Procedure for organisations that wanted to have their tradition included.

  1. attend an information meeting.
  2. the community must make a heritage care plan that makes clear what measures they take to keep their tradition viable and how they suppose to pass it on to young people.
  3. fill out a nomination form.

4. The plan is carefully checked by consultants of VIE

5. If the consultants approve of the nomination, they send their advice to the Advisory Council, which reviews the nomination and makes the final decision.

6. Every community that placed its tradition on the National Inventory must send in progress reports every two years.

If the heritage care is neglected, the tradition may be taken off the list.

Elements of the nomination form

  • Who is asking for nomination; main applicant and other applicants
  • What is the involvement of the applicant (s) – Description
  • We hereby declare that we will do our utmost to give our tradition future. Signature from applicants and supporters

Elements of the nomination form – Heritage Care Plan

1. Description of tradition

  • Name of your tradition: Traditions and rituals that you circus calls and transfer to future generations. Finally we registered: Circus Culture
  • Geographical location of your tradition
  • Description of your tradition

2. Identification of tradition

  • Can you describe what participants and organizations are involved in your tradition:
  • What is in short the history of your tradition?
  • How is the tradition changed over time? What are the elements of the tradition?
  • Which parts do you want to pass on to future generations?
  • How is the knowledge about your tradition recorded?
  • Where does your archive consist of?
  • Where is your archive stored?
  • Where does your collection consist of?
  • How is the care for your collection organized?

3. Protection

  • What is the meaning of your tradition for you
  • Why should younger generations want to take over your tradition
  • How is your tradition passed down to future generations?
  • What are the bottlenecks in the transmission to future generations?
  • What steps have been taken in the recent past to solve these problems
  • What measures will you take in the short term to solve these problems
  • What should happen in the longer term to keep your tradition viable

4. Placement on the National Inventory Intangible Cultural Heritage in Netherlands

  • What does it mean for your tradition to be placed on the National Inventory
  • What are the benefits?
  • What are the disadvantages?
  • How will you use the benefits?
  • How will you solve the drawbacks?

5. Summary

  • What actions will you take the next two years specifically to keep your tradition viable

6. Attachments

  • Strength-Weakness-Opportunities-Threats analysis (SWOT)
  • Bibliography
  • Photos
  • Short film
  • Otherwise

On the 2nd of December 2013 the Circus Culture Foundation received the formal information that their tradition was placed on the National Inventory.

The circus community sees the registration into the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage as a national recognition of the circus culture, and also as a challenge of promoting and preserving it for the future.