Intangible Cultural Heritage Seminar

Basseterre, St. Kitts, February 24th, 2021 (ZIZ News)  The Department of Culture is moving ahead with efforts to preserve practices and traditions that make up the culture of the federation through its intangible cultural heritage project.

According to Lead Focal Point for the project in St. Kitts Marlene Phillips, Intangible Culture is made up of processes, procedures and the way things are done, such as cooking traditional foods, performing traditional folk arts.

For more than a year, media teams have been working with persons who engage in these practices to record them for posterity to ensure the traditions don’t die.

An information session was held on Wednesday morning to show what has been collected so far and Mrs Phillip explained that their efforts require significant input from the community.

In his feature address Minister of Culture, the Hon. Jonel Powell, reinforced Mrs Phillips point noting that it was important to reach out to the communities that practice these traditions, which serve to strengthen our national identity.

The Seminar is part of a 2 year project to safeguard ICH in St. Kitts and Nevis funded by UNESCO.