Dance is your dance

In March this year, the UK ratified the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. In doing so, the UK has committed to ensuring that it safeguards and promotes its most at-risk intangible cultural heritage, or ‘living heritage’ as it is sometimes known. UNESCO considers intangible cultural heritage to include oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals and festive events; knowledge and skills concerning nature and the universe; and the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts. In the UK context, this might include generations-old traditions such as morris dancing, alongside contemporary cultural events like Notting Hill Carnival.

Why is the UK is only just ratifying a 20-year-old treaty? It is a valid question. By the time Britain joined the convention, 182 of the UN’s 193 member states had already committed to protecting their own intangible cultural heritage. Yet as late as2020, a civil society minister told the Lords that she had “not seen any compelling business case” for doing so. This represents a failure to appreciate the wide-ranging impact living heritage can have: as UNESCO argues, an understanding and appreciation of living heritage can aid intercultural dialogue and encourage respect for others’ beliefs, and contribute to a sense of community, identity and continuity. Importantly, living heritage not only encompasses traditions from the past: it represents contemporary, diverse practices too.

To fulfil our duties under the convention, the first task is to make our intangible heritage at least somewhat tangible. Between December 2023 and February 2024, Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government launched a consultation, focusing on ‘defining and identifying intangible cultural heritage in the UK’; but we are still waiting for its findings. Along with the ratification itself, this represented a positive step amidst Conservative rhetoric and policies which harmed the cultural, heritage and arts sector.

Labour’s election heralded a notable positive shift in the way the arts, culture and heritage are discussed. The prime minister and the culture secretary have both spoken about the impact engaging with the arts had upon their lives, and the power of culture to enrich, unify, and provide solace and meaning. Yet there is much more work to do. Living heritage is severely affected by the wider arts and culture sector’s well-documented financial and workforce struggles. The National Lottery Heritage Fund has identified a few common threats, including the closure of community spaces where living heritage can be practiced, a lack of training and learning opportunities, and economic and market issues (eg practitioners being unable to find a workshop, make a living from their practice, or acquire the necessary funds to train others in their field).

My own interest in our living heritage was inherited from my parents, who both enjoy folk music and dance from across the British Isles. They introduced me to these activities from an early age, and through my involvement with folkdance groups, I have made close friends, travelled to compete in transatlantic dance competitions and developed a curiosity for folk traditions around the world. I was lucky to have been introduced to the UK folk scene by the lottery that is parental cultural influence. But discovering and benefiting from our living heritage should not be left to chance.

Earlier this year, the Arts and Creative Industries Policy Unit, based at the Fabian Society, proposed that the teaching of Britain’s intangible cultural heritage should be incorporated into a reformed national curriculum, as part of a suite of other arts and cultural education policies. We believe that everyone should have access to culture and all the opportunities it offers, and that this begins in schools. As an interdisciplinary topic, learning about living heritage– through both theoretical and practical means – teaches respect, curiosity and tolerance of Britain’s rich, diverse cultural landscape. It aids children’s understanding of how our lives have been shaped by evolving traditions, and how future generations might inherit both traditional and contemporary practices.

States who ratify the 2003 convention are ‘encouraged to adopt appropriate legal, technical, administrative and financial measures’ aimed at promoting and facilitating access to living heritage, and strengthening institutions for the training, management, expression and performance of the same. What better way to do so than to ensure that all children can participate in our rich cultural heritage from an early age?

At a moment when the public sphere is characterised by culture wars and discussions about the UK’s post-Brexit identity, it feels pertinent to celebrate and protect British culture as an inclusive, representative and evolving act of expression and community connection – and it is now in Labour’s legislative power to do so. Embracing the UNESCO convention is a first step in celebrating our living heritage, and it will be fascinating to see which practices end up on the UK’s protected list. Whatever they are, Labour can ensure they remain alive and relevant by giving every child the opportunity to enjoy them.

Image Credit: recoulstock via Flickr