IOV Founder Alexander Veigl demonstrated his wisdom and foresight when he successfully applied to UNESCO for recognition as an international non-governmental organization more than 15 years ago. On July 1st, IOV's application to UNESCO for an “upgraded” relationship will be filed and sometime next year we will hear if we are successful.
The application is with the Intangible Cultural Heritage Section at UNESCO and would mean that qualified IOV experts and scholars might be called upon to provide advisory services to the Director General of UNESCO. Each interested expert submitted a form with their CV about a month ago. The forms and CVs, will accompany the IOV application.
IOV has many of the world's leading experts in folk art and folk culture among its members. IOV President Carmen Padilla is one example. Carmen has been the Philippine representative to the UNESCO General Conference, she heads the Philippine cultural delegation to UNESCO and she is Chair of UNESCO's Memories of the World program for Southeast Asia.
Elvira Kunina, Director of the Russian State House of Folk Art in Moscow has been involved in the Intangible Cultural Heritage section at UNESCO almost since it began. She was a member of the jury that selected the first Masterpieces of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, has chaired the Russian ICH Commission and participated in numerous ICH programs.
Mila Santova, Director of the Institute of Science at the University of Sofia has been chair of the Bulgarian National UNESCO Commission. She helped put together our application for consultative relations with the ICH Section. Last year, Mila explained to the youth congress participants how the 2003 UNESCO Convention on the Intangible Cultural Heritage works and no one would know better than she. Her project was one of the first inscribed onto the UNESCO Masterpieces List and was the prototype for other projects that followed in 2005 and 2007.
IOV has long placed a special emphasis on the scientific aspect of folk art and while other organizations have followed our lead, none are better equipped than IOV to provide consultative services to UNESCO in the area of intangible cultural heritage. We believe UNESCO will agree once they see the impressive roster of experts IOV has to offer, including Dr. Aija Jansone of Latvia, Dr. Iveta Pirgova of the USA and Dr. Anna Lydaki of Greece. Jansone is an expert on costumes, Pirgova on oral traditions and Lydaki on the culture of the Roma people.
Newer members of IOV's roster of experts include Dr. Kinga Czerwinska of Poland. Kinga specializes in lace and embroidery. She is an expert on the folk costumes of the Polish region near the borders of Slovakia and the Czech Republic, where she has conducted field research.
Dr. Iroda Dadadjanova of Tashkent, Uzbekistan can claim expertise in two areas, the first being traditional musical instruments of Central Asia. The second is the role of women in traditional Uzbek society, a topic she has spoken on extensively at home and abroad. She is a master player of the “chang,” an ancient stringed instrument found in Central Asia.
Other IOV experts include Dr. Parul Shaw (India), Dr. Anna Brzozowska-Krajka (Poland), Dr. Jurgen Lackner ( Austria), Dr. Nour el Houda Badis (Tunisia) and Dr. Florence Neubauer (USA).
New IOV members Dr. Javier Rodrigo-Ilarri and spouse Rut Martinez Garcia (Spain), who is just finishing up her Ph.D. on Intangible Cultural Heritage, also submitted applications. You will find their biographies in the "new members" section of this web page.
Our site will soon have a member's only blog up and running. The first comment will be posted by Dr. Aija Jansone. Please visit the blog and help us get some stimulating exchanges of information and opinion going around the globe. You are invited to post your comments to Aija's posting or on any other topic, but we ask that you not share the password with anyone except members of the IOV family. The public will have an opportunity to leave their comments and suggestions elsewhere on the site.
Thank you to our experts for participating in the IOV application to UNESCO. In the coming weeks, their bios will be posted so we may all become acquainted with them. Thanks also to those who assisted in the preparation of the application, Mila Santova, Carmen Padilla, Elvira Kunina, Hans J. Holz and his hard-working Assistant , Jenny Gahbauer.
As details on the status of the IOV application become available, you will see them first here on this web site.
