11/11/2025
Reflections on ICH North:
Lauri Oino
Kansanmusiikki-instituutti - Finnish Folk Music Institute
(Photo: Ulla Nisonen)
What do I think the Aurora area has gained from ICH North
Through i.a. Unesco Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, what was previously regarded as “only” traditions, stable remnants of the past, is today seen as crucially relevant parts of societies’ quality of life, coherence, resilience, and sustainable development. The project has reached both practitioners and their communities, as well as other stakeholders, such as museums, archives, educational institutions, and businesses. This has contributed to an important recognition of musical heritage of the project region as living and socially relevant phenomenon that is important for the quality of life and development of the region in the future. The project has created innovative ways to support the viability of these communities, their authority over their heritage, and the means to strengthen their position and significance in society. The project has fruitfully brought together different stakeholders, and this has already created new co-operation among them also outside the project.
What have my organization gained from ICH North
The project has offered us resources and an ideal platform to put to practice and share our expertise in intangible cultural heritage and working with grassroots heritage communities, to develop and test practices, methods and ideas, and to learn from other participants. The project has offered us a scale of impact that we wouldn’t have been able to reach alone. The fluent cross-border co-operation between very different partners, from big educational institutions with their resources and expertise to smaller NGO-based organizations with their grassroots-level contacts and expertise, has been both basis for the success of the project and a success as a project design model. Our project capacities have risen to a new level, and we have already benefited from this experience as participants of other planned or actualized projects. Our networks have increased significantly, and our co-operation with most, if not even all, partners, many associate partners, and many communities met through this project will continue in the future.
What have I personally gained from ICH North
My professional skills have grown in many aspects: i.e. in project design, management and administration, in cross-border multi-partner co-operation, and in project activities implementation. My professional and community contacts on the region have increased, and my general view of the scene of musical heritage and musical heritage communities on the region and their circumstances and social contexts has both widened and deepened. At a personal level, I have found the project very motivating and even enjoyable.
Want to know more about the outcomes of ICH North?
A warm welcome to follow or final seminar on November 19th (at Västernorrlands Museum or online): https://fb.me/e/9BFsG75I0
A lot of material is already published on the project webpage https://lnkd.in/dz4pP4Jq and the rest will be published during December.
Feel free to give feedback on the ICH North project through a short anonymous questionnaire (ENG/FI/SE/NO): https://lnkd.in/dYbDpVdq
Interreg Aurora