November 8-11, 2014 Moscow, Rostov the Great, Russian Federation

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1 WELCOME ADDRESS On behalf of the UNESCO Moscow Office for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, the Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation On the occasion of the Regional UNESCO/ICOM Expert Meeting for museum specialists from CIS countries STRENGTHENING THE SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL ROLE OF MUSEUMS AS VECTORS FOR INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE AND ENHANCING THEIR LINKS WITH THE UNESCO CONVENTIONS November 8-11, 2014 Moscow, Rostov the Great, Russian Federation Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a pleasure for me to welcome on behalf of the UNESCO Moscow Office all the participants of the Regional expert meeting for museum specialist from CIS countries directed at the strengthening of the social and educational role of museums as vectors of intercultural dialogue and at enhancing their links with the UNESCO Conventions in the field of culture. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to the Russian Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM Russia), the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO, the All-Russian Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts and the State Museum-Reserve Rostov Kremlin for the support and cooperation in the organization of such an important and prospective event. In our rapidly changing world museums play a key role in the protection, promotion and transmission of cultural values. UNESCO and ICOM have been closely cooperating in the development of museums as centers for the safeguarding of the world cultural heritage for more than sixty years, promoting the exchange of information among museum institutions, the training of museum employees and the cooperation of museum experts at the national, regional and international levels. In the last decades, significant changes have affected the museum sector. The number of existing museums has greatly increased, together with an improvement in museum technologies and leisure infrastructure, which led to the attraction of increasingly large and varied groups of visitors. Museum exhibitions and collections are open to visitors differing in age, educational background and level and ethnic and religious belonging, thus, they are able unite different social classes and communities. Providing income and new working places, museums contribute to economic development at the local, regional and international level. The economic advantages offered by museums play a key Bolshoy Levshinsky per., 15, b. 2, Moscow, Russian Federation moscow@unesco.org Tel.: (7 495) /29-53/29-62 Fax: (7 495)

2 role in the contemporary risky and instable global context that has been generated by profound economic crises. Considering new global realities, there is a strong need to re-consider the role of museums as repositories of knowledge, as platforms for the understanding of arts and history and as instruments facilitating social cohesion and multicultural dialogue. In this context, a main line of action for the achievement of UNESCO strategic objectives is the strengthening of the social and educational role of museums as basic cultural institutions of our society. It is essential, in order to enhance the significance and authority of museums in the contemporary world, to clearly identify the inextricable connection between museums and the UNESCO international conventions in the field of culture, which act as basic normative documents regulating the safeguarding of cultural heritage in all of its forms and the promotion of cultural diversity for dialogue and sustainable development. Due to their culture-entertaining, educational and awareness-rising activities, museums can provide an immeasurable contribution to the promotion of the UNESCO Conventions principles. In this regard, it should be noted that UNESCO, being the only specialized agency within the UN system responsible for culture, has two key commitments: the equal promotion of the preservation of cultural diversity and of the free flow ideas by word and image. As a constantly changing and flexible process, culture re-shapes tangible and intangible cultural heritage creating new forms of self-expression and disclosing, in this way, its endless variety. In the ever-changing international context, UNESCO always seeks to address practically the challenges posed by the constant changes of the concept of culture throughout time. UNESCO acts as a laboratory of ideas for the analysis and formulation of appropriate cultural strategies and policies; as an agency collecting, transmitting, spreading and sharing information, knowledge and best practices; as a promoter of its member-states human and institutional potential; as a norm-setting agency recommending its member-states the respect of general laws developed for the strengthening of concrete international cooperation. As a norm-setting agency, UNESCO developed a number of legally-binding acts in four fundamental fields of creative diversity, i.e.: cultural and natural heritage; movable cultural properties, intangible cultural heritage and contemporary creativity. Altogether seven Conventions have been adopted by UNESCO in the field of culture, nonetheless, the present meeting will discuss the issues of the role and objectives of museums in the implementation and promotion of the principles expressed in the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Natural and Cultural Heritage (1972), the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003), the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005) and the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (1970).

3 UNESCO s main line of action for the development of a legislative framework concerning museums on a global level is the elaboration of a new normative document, directed at achieving the protection and promotion of museums and collections. This is a necessary step in order to identify the social changes that occurred in more than 50 years of cooperation between society and museums after the formulation in 1960 of the Recommendation Concerning the Most Effective Means of Rendering Museums Accessible to Everyone. The elaboration of this new document has already started and it is advisable for all member-states to start actively working on formulating their position in regard to the document provisions and to attract as many active museum specialists as possible in this activity. At the moment, UNESCO is closely cooperating with ICOM on the elaboration of the abovementioned document taking into consideration all past preliminary research on technical, legislative and museological aspects of the preparation of a standard-setting act on the protection and promotion of museums and collections. The project of the recommendations will be sent to member-states in April 2015 for disclosure and commentary and, in May/June 2015, an intergovernmental expert meeting (second category) will be held in order to discuss the project Recommendations on the Protection and Promotion of Museums and Collections. The elaboration of this normative act, addressing contemporary realities, will contribute to a significant improvement of museums and collections legislative status in developing countries as well as it will enable to elaborate a standardized approach to those spheres of museum management most in need of an integrated approach. The Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Natural and Cultural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972, defined the fundamental principles and priority areas of action in regard to the safeguarding of natural and cultural sites having Outstanding Universal Value from a historical, artistic, scientific and aesthetic point of view. In the Convention, educational and informational activities are underscored as key areas of action, endeavoring the strengthening and safeguarding of appreciation and respect by their peoples of the cultural and natural heritage. Museums, Museum-reserves and Estate Museums located on the territory of World Heritage sites or being part of them should contribute and participate in ensuring the safety and protection of monuments and in informing tourists on norms and rules to be respected. Museums should attract local communities to participate in heritage management and safeguarding, organizing targeted trainings. These activities contribute to the education of conscientious tourists and socially active local communities, recognizing the value of their own cultural and natural sites. In this way, besides enabling the safeguarding, analysis and exposition to visitors of cultural and natural properties, museums act as educational and moral institutions. The educational function of museums plays a significant role in the context of contemporary flow of information. Together with educational institutions and scientific research centers, museums have to provide free-accessible, reliable and quality information on Heritage. By

4 providing expositive information on it, museums act as unique mediators between Heritage sites and their visitors. It should be highlighted that through their educational activities museums do not only act as mediators for tangible cultural and natural heritage, but also have a great potential to transmit information on intangible values, which are an equally important part of our civilization. According to the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) these values are practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills as well as the instruments, objects, artefact and cultural spaces associated therewith that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. In this regard, museums act precisely as unique institutions exposing these values in a visual form and presenting to local populations their own national, regional and local heritage. It is crucial to enhance and improve the capacities of museum employees and guides in transmitting knowledge on social practices, rituals, events, craftsmanship and other forms of intangible cultural heritage, exposed within museums. It is also extremely important to improve the capacities of museums in developing their expositions through the organization of events in accordance with the museum profile and the collections and exhibitions hosted in it. These events can be concerts, giving people the chance to get acquainted with performing arts of several world populations, master-classes on traditional forms of craftsmanship and fairs of traditional food, costumes and objects of everyday life. By organizing master-classes, festivals and competitions that give people the possibility to gain knowledge easily and by getting involved in leisure activities, museums manage to attract a broad public and contribute to the development of the artistic potential of visitors. Presenting the great diversity of existing cultural expressions, museums enrich their visitors' inner world and broaden their horizons in regard to culture. The above-described activities are expressed fully in the concept Education through Art, including aesthetic and artistic education. Innovative forms of public attraction, providing museum visitors the possibility to creatively increase knowledge of different cultures, contribute to the promotion of the principles expressed in the UNESCO Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions (2005). This convention reflects the needs of contemporary society in regard to peace and intercultural dialogue, promoting respect of the diversity of cultural expressions and raising the awareness of populations to the key role cultural diversity and creative development play in reaching these goals. In many ways, the ideas expressed in the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (2001) permeate the Convention of 2005, nonetheless, the latter, does not touch upon many aspects of cultural diversity reflected in the Universal Declaration of The Convention focuses on the particular thematic fields of the Declaration s 8-11 articles, which are: the necessity to recognize that, as vectors of identity, values and meaning, cultural goods

5 and services must not be treated as mere commodities and consumer goods; the requirement for governments to take all necessary measures for the protection and promotion of cultural diversity and, in this context, to ensure the free circulation of ideas and works; the need to reinforce international cooperation, considering that in every creative expressions lay the seeds of permanent dialogue. It is essential for museums to educate their visitors presenting their expositions not only as objects of tangible human activities, but also as creative objects, having a deep meaning and value. In this context, the enhancement of diversity requires the continuous revival of cultural expressions, in order for them to exist not only in museums, and to avoid becoming folklore or commodities. Nonetheless, precisely museums can act as platforms unifying the diversity of all cultures and as unique institutes providing the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural heritage, fostering the development of creative capacities of each person and encouraging the development of new forms of cultural expression and the growth of creative industries. As unique repositories of historical and cultural collective memory, museums, basing themselves on the principle of tolerance to the natural, cultural, ethnic and religious diversity of our world, are called to protect and transmit to future generations knowledge, experiences and those specific human traditions shaping moral and worldview attitudes. Museums are crucial instruments in the building of knowledge societies, acting on the basis of a deep understanding of the role of heritage in our lives. Considering the essential importance of knowledge in a broad sense, it is necessary to highlight the peculiar nature of this meeting, which bases itself on the gathering of expert knowledge and experience. Since the present meeting was organized according to the recommendations prepared during the workshops and expert meetings carried on with the support of the UNESCO Moscow Office and with the participation of representatives from all CIS countries in the framework of the UNESCO/IFESSCO Pilot Project Running a Museum XXI Century ( ), it serves as a platform for gathering and transmitting knowledge and achievements in the field of museum management, essential for the direct implementation of the principles of strengthening the role of museums in the life of contemporary society. The realization of such large-scale projects greatly contributes to the improvement of cultural policies in the field of museums management and cultural heritage safeguarding. Museum management requires appropriate rules and measures, such as professional capacitybuilding for museum specialists, improvement of museum ethics, integration of information and communication technologies and other innovations according to contemporary realities. In the framework of the programme Global Partnership for Museums UNESCO mobilized the forces of major scientific and technological institutes and partners working for development in order to promote and strengthen the role of museums as active agents in the social, educational

6 and economic activities of society. The scope of the programme included museums capacity building in the fields of (i) heritage safeguarding; (ii) information distribution on cultural diversity; (iii) economic entrepreneurship of local handicraft trade, cultural industries and cultural tourism. The programme was based on past successful practices and on the results of quantitative and qualitative research carried on in order to develop systemic projects and to ensure the accumulation of experience. The UNESCO Programme Heritage and Dialogue addressed the development of new approaches to complex regional challenges, the facilitation of dialogue between policy makers, the enhancement of cooperative initiative in the fields of world heritage, intangible heritage, cultural industries, museums and in the promotion of network cooperation among cultural institutions. The programme has facilitated the elaboration of new approaches to complex regional challenges, including the formation of working expert groups on the issues of heritage safeguarding, promotion and management for the facilitation of exchange of information and the development of network initiatives in the field of heritage safeguarding. The social mission of museums in this context can be expressed as: keeping and transferring to the following generations the cultural experience and humanitarian traditions of human mankind, developing axiological, moral and philosophical principles regarding tolerance for natural, ethnical, cultural and religious diversity, as well as developing the creative potential of personality (including communication skills) through specific forms of educational work and use of museums as unique carriers of historical and cultural memory of the humankind coded in authentic objects of its heritage. Concluding, I would like to draw your attention on the fact that according to the results of the present meeting the expert group will conduct thematic studies and prepare Policy briefs, including recommendations that will be freely accessible on the website of UNESCO and ICOM Russia and will become additional resources for your expert cooperation. I wish successes, fruitful dialogue and new ideas to all the participants. Thank you for your attention! Moreva Liubava Programme Specialist for Culture UNESCO Moscow Office for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, the Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation