ICHCAP

ICHCAP has published the Preliminary Survey on Dormant ICH Data in the Pacific to share the results of the survey conducted in the Pacific region from 2015 to 2016. Perceiving that a lot of valuable ICH data in the Pacific region was not being used, the institution carried out the project in cooperation with five Pacific countries to identify ICH records scattered around the region, bringing dormant ICH data to light.

In 2015 during the sixth Sub-regional Information and Network Meeting for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Pacific in Fiji, ICHCAP discussed how such data could be used. From 2015 to 2016, ICHCAP administered the survey in the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Palau, Papua New Guinea, and Tonga. Each partner organization listed dormant ICH data and their storage status through the assistance of relevant institutions holding such materials. The participating organizations were YSHPO Resource Library and Oral History Database in the Federated States of Micronesia, the Department of Heritage & Arts nominated as the National Archives of Fiji, the Palau Bureau of Cultural & Historical Preservation, the National Cultural Commission of Papua New Guinea, the National Archives and Public Records Services of Papua New Guinea, the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Tonga.

The survey report contains lists and management status of dormant ICH identified by the five Pacific countries. It describes basic information about the ICH, categorized by media type and frequency of use. Although the report identifies just a part of the ICH data in the participating countries, it has brought notice to dormant Pacific ICH data, laying the foundation to promote ICH information.

ICHCAP will explore projects that can use the dormant ICH data.