The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage has become a key initiative for both UNESCO and the Coordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations (CCAAA) to honour audiovisual preservation professionals and institutions that help to safeguard this heritage for future generations despite the many technical, political, social, financial, and other factors that threaten its survival.
Audiovisual archives around the world join together annually on 27 October to celebrate their work with activities and events that not only highlight the vulnerability of this heritage but also celebrate the often unheralded work of the heritage institutions that protect it.
This year the theme of the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is “Discover, Remember and Share”.
Discover: Each day hundreds of thousands of recordings are captured, preserved and annotated by archivists to enable search, discovery, new interpretations, uses and enjoyment of moving image and sound recordings. Celebrate the voyages of discovery made possible by your archive in your domain. Showcase and promote your mission and work.
Share: Digital media has created opportunities as never before for archives to connect directly with their publics, sharing and engaging with new audiences across digital platforms in ever new ways. Promote your shared archive events and celebrations with the archive community worldwide.
Remember: Audio-visual archives are a cornerstone of the memory of the world, with recordings that enable recall for future generations and give context to our shared history, culture and humanity for over a century. Promote a greater understanding of the unique role of audiovisual archives and the need for it to be safeguarded, preserved and protected as part of our world heritage.
UNESCO Director-General Ms Irina Bokova delivered a message in regards to the significance of celebrating audiovisual heritage.
“Through images and sound, audiovisual heritage provides unique insight into the past as the basis for looking to the future. This heritage carries memories and testimonies, knowledge and ideas, in ways that are vivid and moving and that lay the foundations for better understanding and dialogue between and within generations, as well as between and within societies. Linking the past to the present, this heritage is part of our common history and must be safeguarded and shared as a wellspring of identity and belonging, innovation and creativity.
“Films, recorded sound materials, radio and television programmes — archives are essential for the preservation of this heritage, offering us a chance to look at our history and that of others as threads in the great mosaic story of all humanity, on the basis of respect and tolerance. Threats to these archives come from many directions, starting with neglect and chemical decay and including technological obsolescence. This is why UNESCO is working with Governments across the world to safeguard audiovisual heritage as a source of strength for all to share — to allow women and men today and tomorrow to continue discovering, remembering and sharing the heritage that makes us who we are,” concludes the message.
In adopting 27 October as the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage, UNESCO, in cooperation with CCAAA and other institutions, has helped to raise the profile of the issues at stake and focus global attention on the importance of the fragility of this heritage on the one hand and the importance of its timely safeguarding for present and future generations.
Original sources: UNESCO; CCAAA
Published on 27 October 2017
