2015 Sub - regional meeting for Intangible cultural heritage safeguarding in the Southeast Asia
During three days, from 6 to 8 October 2015, the Vietnamese Institute for Musicology collaborated with the International Information and Networking Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (ICHCAP) to organize at VIM, the 2015 Sub - regional meeting for Intangible cultural heritage safeguarding in the Southeast Asia, with the theme of “Strengthening stakeholders’ network and regional collaboration for Intangible cultural heritage safeguarding”. The cooperative agencies were the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam and the UNESCO Office in Bangkok and Hanoi. The conference was attended by nearly thirty delegates, including cultural managers and experts representing Belgium, Australia, South Korea, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
After the opening ceremony with the speeches by the delegates Ms. Dang Thi Bich Lien - Deputy Minister of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam, Mr. Kwon Huh - ICHCAP Director General; A/Prof. Dr. Nguyễn Bình Định - Director of VIM, (the Organizing Committee representative); and the delegate representing the UNESCO Office in Bangkok and Hanoi, there was a presentation of the main trending conference topics by Dr. Marc Jacobs (Vrije University, Director of Flemish interface program on cultural heritage); Ms. Vannessa Schilles (UNESCO office in Bangkok), Mr. Deok-soon Kim (Head of ICHCAP Cooperation & Networking Section). The main content of the conference included a presentation on a number of specific cases related to the con-struction of a network of stakeholders, a report on the reality and the problems related to intangible cultural heritage in each country, and an exchange on the development of strategies, plans, and actions for cooperation projects in Southeast Asia. At the end of the conference, delegates agreed on a number of proposals and recom-mendations to be able to effectively implement the project of strengthening stakeholders’ networks and regional collaboration for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. After two days of work at VIM, the delegates went out to observe the reality at Xoan quarters in Phú Thọ province, which impressed the group on the preservation of the intangible cultural heritage in Vietnam.
We hope that in the hands of the member states, the Southeast Asia intangible cultural heritage may have a chance to be defended methodically and systematically.
PHẠM MINH HƯƠNG