Community-Based Inventorying of Urban Living Heritage in Relation to Income

On December 10-18, a workshop entitled ‘Community-Based Inventorying of Urban Living Heritage in Relation to Income - Generation in Tbilisi’ is taking place. The purpose of this workshop is to introduce participants to the aims and benefits of community-based inventorying approaches encouraged under the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

This workshop is part of the project “Community-based inventorying of intangible cultural heritage, related to traditional income-generating activities in Old Tbilisi” is implemented by Georgian Heritage Crafts Association in the framework of UNESCO “Intangible Heritage and Creativity for Sustainable Cities” Program.

This project, which is generously supported by Yong Xin Hua Yun involves building the capacities of local communities and heritage workers in relation to identifying and documenting their living heritage in Tbilisi, in order to better understand how it is evolving and being shaped by the urban context.

The main focus of this project is on intangible heritage in relation to income-generation and livelihood. The present workshop is one of the first steps in implementing the project. It focuses on training heritage professionals, practitioners and community members in the importance of and practical approaches to identifying and documenting living heritage in urban contexts that contributes to livelihoods through income-generation.

The program will cover both lesson-based learning on some theoretical aspects and a practical exercise whereby the workshop participants, will have the opportunity to work with practitioners to document their living heritage. It also covers topics such as how information collected during fieldwork can be organized in ways that contribute to safeguarding and supporting the ongoing practice of living traditions.

“We hope that based on the outcomes of the workshop, participants should be better equipped to engage in designing and conducting community-based inventorying in their respective areas and communities. This workshop will be introductory and will provide a basis for identifying future facilitators who are willing to participate in ongoing fieldwork to document the relationship between living heritage and income-generation in the urban context of Tbilisi, looking at how the dynamics of city life are shaping this heritage today,” note the organizers of the workshop.

The international facilitators of the workshop include Alla Stashkevich, Art Historian, an expert in the heritage sector and museology, and Suzanne Ogge - Social anthropologist and heritage specialist who began her career working on indigenous land claims in Australia.

Due to the current epidemiological situation, the workshop is being held online, via the Zoom platform.