Sustaining Crafts and Preserving Heritage
Humankind is multicultural in nature and diversity is its wealth and strength. Over the centuries, the cultural wealth of communities and nations attracted peoples of various backgrounds. In today’s knowledge societies, information and communication technology is progressing by leaps and bounds, connecting people with an unprecedented speed. In this rapidly changing world, while we move forward steadily, we need to rethink how to sustain local cultures and to preserve our heritage.
Artisans and craftspeople make major contributions in creating ways of expressing and showcasing cultural identities and developing local cultural industries. In developing countries, crafts continue to be sources of subsistence for many. Lack of education unfortunately restricts the participation of a significant number of fine artisans. Unable to respond adequately to the changing market environment and the demands of the 21st century, artisans with little or no education, engaged in various kinds of crafts are driven to give up their trade to become superfluous dislocated labourers. Hence, in view of preserving cultural heritage of diverse local communities, it is crucial to prevent skilled artisans from falling into poverty.
Over the past decades, I have been working very closely with artisans in different parts of the world to redress the declining trend in the handloom textile industry. While working in countries where high quality hand-woven textile production and complementary crafts were once the mainstay of the economy, assisting the skilled weavers to preserve their knowhow, to create harmonious links between tradition and modernity and to facilitate their access to local and global markets, I realized that well-designed strategies with integrated learning, skills training and appropriate use of technology can enable artisans at risk to preserve many fine skills, their cultural wealth and creativity as well as to secure an income in a sustained manner.
In line with UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, it is critical to develop interdisciplinary programmes to promote and sustain cultural diversity. By linking culture to education, science and technology, communities ought to be supported to utilize their natural genius and creative energy for developing their own locally inspired cultural goods.