CROSSBORDER LABORATORY OF INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE FROM PORTUGAL AND GALICIA
The inmaterial cultural heritage (ICH) education model developed by Ponte...nas ondas! (PNO!, Bridge on the waves) has been implemented for 27 years in 300 schools on both sides of the Portuguese-Galician border (see: http://opatrimonio.org). The PNO! model has been recenttly selected and awarded by UNESCO for the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices ICH (see: https://ich.unesco.org/en/BSP/portuguese-galician-border-ich-a-safeguarding-model-created-by-pontenas-ondas-01848 Selected).
Cross-border/international
Spain
Portugal
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Galicia (Spain) and North of Portugal (Portugal).
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): ASSOCIAÇÃO CULTURAL E PEDAGÓGICA PONTE NAS ONDAS Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: ESMERALDA Last name of representative: CARVALHO Gender: Female Nationality: Portugal Function: PRESIDENT Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Azenhas nº 21A, 4930-341- GANFEI- VALENÇA DO MINHO- PORTUGAL Town: VALENÇA DO MINHO Postal code: 4930-341 Country: Portugal Direct Tel:+351 917 662 972 E-mail:ponteaodia@gmail.com Website:http://pontenasondas.org/
The model developed by Ponte...nas ondas! (PNO!, Bridge on the waves) has been implemented for 27 years in 300 schools on both sides of the border between Portugal and Galicia (Spain), using local, regional and school radios to put together students (primary and secundary level) and local communities from Galicia and North of Portugal. Ponte... nas ondas! was awarded by UNESCO for the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices. (see: https://ich.unesco.org/en/BSP/portuguese-galician- border-ich-a-safeguarding-model-created-by-pontenas-ondas-01848). The project includes:
(1) Schools at both sides of the border, which include teachers, students and their families (http://opatrimonio.org).
(2) Bearers, practitioners of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) at both sides of the border and communities to which schools members and practitioners belong (see “Living Human Treasures of The Galician-Portuguese Intangible Heritage” (http://pontenasondas.org/living-treasures-of-the-pgip/?lang=en).
(3) The transfrontier, transnational association PNO! (http://pontenasondas.org). In addition, the PNO! model has been conducted in cooperation with the universities of the Euroregion Galicia and North of Portugal. The project also involves other institutions of the Euroregion such as the autonomous government of Galicia, Xunta de Galicia, and the Ministries of Culture and Education from Portugal and Spain. Now, our proposal is the creation of a sociocultural and educational laboratory of ICH in the Customs building of Valença do Minho and in cooperation with AECT Rio Minho (see: https://smartminho.eu/aect/?lang=pt-pt). This educational laboratory will integrate an ICH library, an auditorium, a music rehearsal venue for young people and a radio studio with support of "Radio Municipal de Tui" (see: https://tui.gal/es/servizos/radio-municipal-tui). This radio studio will be a ICH radio and join people of several generations and countries for the creation of an european identity.
Education
Inmaterial Cultural Heritage
Transmission
Radio
Sociocultural laboratory
a) To use common galician-portuguese ICH in the educational process of young people for the construction of sustainability and responsability with the enviroment and the future of local communities;
b) To desing a crossborder school and center of ICH to exibit, teach and reinforce the links between generations, genders, people and communities.
c) To create a sociocultural laboratory and a centre for ICH where the exhibitions, educational and intercultural activities means a window to reflect about the need to care the planet and to regenerate the landscapes and the hope in a better future in peace;
d) To put in play the interpretation of common cultural practices of ICH in the river Minho area (i.e. languages, handicrafts, local food, tratidional knowledges, music, dances and so on). Some thematic issues that we are going to exhibit and use in the programme are: the knowledge of roman fisheries ("pesqueiras"), "sargaceiras", fisher nets ("redeiras"), the traditional galician and portuguese oral literature as for example strays sing to the challenge ("desgarradas ou cantares ao desafio").
e) To achive ODS 4 (quality education), 5 (gender equality), 7 (renewable energy in the ICH laboratory) 11 (sustainable cities and communities), 17 (social networks to implement the ODS goals).
Our initiative shall be exemplary in terms of: 1) durability, social responsability and long experience very demonstrated in our institutional CV and reputation; 2), multidisciplinary team coled, crossborder and transnational cooperation; 3) the use of ICH as an educational tool and a participatory strategy of community development; 4) the demostration that the cultural differences and similiraties could be a force for european cohesion and living together in peace and tolerance with the others.
1. Empower young people in communicating their heritage, specially ICH. Since its beginnings in 1995, PNO! places young people as active actors in carrying out audiovisual productions with cultural heritage. It was through a radio broadcast between 300 Galician and Portuguese schools that thousands of students felt the emotion of communicating a shared heritage through a common language. See demonstration in the reports of our web: http://pontenasondas.org/
2. Collect expressions and practices of crossborder cultural heritage. Through education, co-research with students and communities, collection competitions and audiovisual awards , works and public presentations were prepared linking people for several parts of Europe and the world.
3. Show and publicize cultural heritage. I.e.: Organization of orality exhibitions to make known new interpretations of oral narrations, oral improvisation, songs and dances, etc. bringing together groups from Galicia and Portugal in the same show. Also other example is the production of documentaries for television showing the work research and social reproduction of young people with heritage (documentary series MC2). See: www.meninoscantores.com
4. Cultural Heritage recreation. By carrying out audiovisual works and documentaries such as those in "Meniños Cantores" 1 and 2, young people re- interpret traditional music and record songs together with professional artists who collaborate with PNO.
5. Preserve and transmit inmaterial cultural heritage. See for exemple: Works on the Living Treasures of the Sea of A Guarda (http://pontenasondas.org/tesouros-vivos-do-mar-de-a-guarda-o-documental/?lang=en ) and on the Human Treasures of the Minho River . (http://pontenasondas.org/living-treasures-of-the-pgip/?lang=en).
The consequences or our educational project are that the young people has rediscovered their past in a positive way and has change the cross imaginaries and representations of portuguese and galician people.
1.To value and enhance Galician-Portuguese intangible cultural heritage (ICH).
2.To encourage the identification, research and inventory of the different cultural heritage elements.
3.To transmit elements of the Galician-Portuguese intangible cultural heritage to younger generations.
4.To integrate Galician-Portuguese intangible cultural heritage into the educational system, through media and ICT (Information and Communications Technology).
5.To use ICH into the European integration. The common Galician-Portuguese border culture and heritage has been documented both in Galicia and Portugal for decades.
6. To use radio, podcast, TV, photos and other informational technologies as tools for inclusion of cultural diversity in the public space, equal opportunities,
More recently, this living heritage has been studied and analysed for educational purposes by teachers and researchers from PNO! with the support of tradition bearers and practitioners, as well as specialists from the University of Trás-os- Montes e Alto Douro, Fernando Pessoa University, the University of the Minho, the University of Santiago de Compostela and the University of Vigo. Their first task was to identify common Galician-Portuguese border ICH elements from the five domains in the UNESCO 2003 Convention of ICH.
Besides, a inclusion objetive is to join international visitors to our iniciative (i.e. pilgrims), in that sense, the sociocultural laboratory of galician and portuguese ICH in the "Alfándega of Valença do Minho" is closed to the Portuguese Pilgrimage Coast Way to Santiago de Compostela.
PNO! has developed a recognized role in the diffusion and protection of the Galician-Portuguese intangible and oral heritage, building social base partnerships from schools, communities, universities and public institutions. PNO! has been betting mainly on initiatives for the dissemination and promotion of educational and pedagogical activities among teachers and students using the cultural resources it collects, as is shown in the various participations in Iberian and international conferences and events, and, above all, in approved European Union’s education and culture projects, such as Grundtvig Project and CAMPUSCULTURAE Project. This means that the EU recognizes PNO! as an important innovator and contributor to a European cultural integration. This transmission is fueled by constant compilations of ICH from older generations, building bridges between the past and the present. Of the various initiatives, I would highlight the work developed within the scope of UNESCO's ICH projects, namely, Living Human Treasures and Living Libraries projects, both focused on the compendium of intangible heritage at risk of disappearance and its valorization. The Association PNO! has been developing activities to safeguard cultural heritage for 27 years, implementing surveys and assessments in schools to measure the results and the impact of activities, as well as to gather suggestions to improve the project.
The impact of the work conducted (radio shows, videos, festivals, conferences) can also be measured in the number of visits on the 3 design websites (www.pontenasondas.org, www.opatrimonio.org, www.escolasnasondas.org) that also have materials available for use in schools as a resource for publicizing Galician-Portuguese intangible cultural heritage. Additionally, all the publications in book/CD/DVD format published by the association, are the tangible result that the public can access and use to further value their cultural heritage. Lastly, PNO! has won several awards.
Since 1995, the impact of the work developed by PNO! has left a footprint on thousands of young people who participated in the initiatives developed (interschool radio events, television programs, heritage collection contests, Galician-Portuguese orality exhibitions, CD recording, documentaries, book publishing, etc.).
PNO! has promoted the first transnational application of the Galician-Portuguese PCI to UNESCO in 2004, an initiative that had great social support and total institutional support both in Portugal and in Spain. The process made it possible to raise awareness and disseminate in Galician and Portuguese society the existence of a shared heritage built on the basis of a language common to both communities. Ponte nas Ondas has leader the Diffusion of Living Human Treasures of Galicia and North of Portugal, proposal for recognition and diffusion work supported by municipalities, autonomous and regional autorities, and also european and international (i.e. UNESCO). The recent entry of PNO! at UNESCO as a “model of good practices with the PCI” it will be implanted in the formal educational systems as a reference for the integration of the ICH in the formal education system of Galicia and North of Portugal, in cooperation with Xunta de Galicia and the Ministry of Education in Portugal. The stakeholders that cooperate usually with our inicitiatives are:
a) 400 Schools (from Europe and also those in America and Africa);
b) Universities (+ that of Paraiba in the publication of Colors of the Atlantic);
c) Radio stations;
d) Chambers;
e) Deputations / CIM Alto Minho - Province and regional institutions of civil govern in Portugal and Spain;
f) EGTC and AECT Rio Minho
g) Spanish Ministry of Education (i.e.: “Buenapractica Iberoamericana”)
h) UNESCO (Consultant NGO).
This living heritage promoted by PNO! has been studied and analysed for educational purposes by teachers from the Cultural and Pedagogical Association PNO! with the support of tradition bearers, practitioners and specialists from the Euroregion Universities. The disciplines involved are:
a) Sociocultural Anthropology (Team anthropologists from the University of Santiago de Compostela, University Fernando Pessoa-Porto; University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, and the INCIPIT-CSIC-Institute for the Sciences of Cultural Heritage in Santiago de Compostela).
b) Social Pedagogy and Education (Team of pedagogues from the universities of Santiago de Compostela and Vigo).
c) Communication Social (Team of teachers and students of universities of Vigo and Santiago de Compostela).
d) Arts and Audiovisual Communication (Collaboration with singers and musicians from Galicia, Portugal and Brazil).
PNO! has a permanent Scientific Commision to validate and evaluate our educational proposals. This scientific commision also participate in applications and other initiatives of PNO! The interdisciplinary approach to the ICH common elements were identified by researchers, students and teachers from Galician and Portuguese schools, with practitioners and communities, have been developing several ICH transmission and awareness-raising activities such as the (1) practising of these ICH elements in schools; (2) promoting and sharing research results and activities through radio transmissions, conference appearances (national and international); (3) organizing and promoting orality exhibitions and meetings of traditional games since 1995; (4) publishing books, CDs and DVDs, documentaries and Websites. Furthermore, in 2004, PNO! promoted ICH's first transnational candidacy for ICH Masterpieces born from schools in two countries and submitted by Portugal and Spain to UNESCO. The aded value of this process was the recent recognition of a good ICH holistic practice.
Ponte...nas ondas! places students at different school levels and the bearers of traditional knowledge at the centre of the educational process through an active, participative, critical pedagogy, which favours the inclusion of students who present some kind of diversity in the school environment, as well as the inclusion of older people in society, by becoming aware of the interest that the heritage they treasure awakens in the new generations, in a process that ends up being intergenerational and communitarian.
The enhancement of rural culture is another of the values highlighted by Ponte...nas ondas!, with its repercussions on the development of environmental awareness, favourable to a sustainable future.
The innovative character of this initiative is on:
a) The management of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of two countries with a continuum cultural in an "Europe without borders".
b) The use of radio between schools for educational and motivational purposes of young people with many sucess in the past and present.
c) Active use of ICT by young people and teachers to improve curricular competences and communicate them with other community groups.
d) The valorization and patrimonialization of inmaterial aspects of crossborder culture between two regions of Europe.
e) The intergenerational and intercultural participatory methods of research and implementation of the project.
f) The creation of audiovisual productions by young people based on intangible cultural heritage.
g) The creation of a practical way to abandon the ageism and other ethnocentrisms for the construction of an european citizenship.
h) The desing of a chronotopos and symbolic place for a new meaning of the border as a social meeting point and encounter.
i) The production of a european neibourghood based upon the ICH.
Border areas share common Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) safeguarding problems. PNO! model could be implemented in different border areas, including cross-border communities in developing countries, if provided that the political situation allows border-crossing activities. PNO! model can be particularly useful in developing countries for various reasons: 1. The combination of ICH and ICT. Transforming local heritage into a teaching tool to promote cross- border links while using ICT engages teachers, students, families and communities at large. 2. The initial investment is minimal. Keeping in mind that some of the ICT infrastructures, such as radio, are inexpensive communication media, simple and easy to use. The introduction of radio in schools can result in a useful resource for good practices with intangible cultural heritage. In this sense, the project PNO! has demonstrated that the association of radio with ICH presents incontestable results, not only in schools but also in the community sphere. 3. Radio, education and ICH are an effective formula for its safeguarding. The use of school radio and community radio as a way of transmission of intangible cultural heritage is an important factor in its spreading and preservation. This form of integrating ICH can easily be applied, since the decision of having ICH practitioners at schools does not incur great costs. For instance, the Oral Tradition Festival -where culture-bearing people and communities participate- contributes to valorise expressions of ICH and to its sustainable development, through traditional practices and knowledges. Beyond this, radio can be integrated into its educational practice and can constitute a powerful tool for working with ICH, keeping in mind that this medium is characterised by its orality. The professors training and awareness at all levels is also important. In addition, a network of schools with the PNO! model can be created in any formal education system.
The main methodology of our association is "Participatory eduation" and "Participatory action research (PAR)". This is an approach to action research emphasizing participation and action by members of communities affected by that research. It seeks to understand the world by trying to change it, collaboratively and following reflection. PAR emphasizes collective inquiry and experimentation grounded in experience and social history. Within this methodology we envolve students, teachers and communities in a common project identifying Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of the practitioners and making a concerted effort to integrate the basic aspects of their work: participation (life in society and democracy), action (engagement with experience and history), education and research (soundness in thought and the growth of knowledge). It is a methology that integrates a collective processes of self-investigation, awardeness and social positive change. The theory and practice are linked each other. This means very good results in terms of learning process and a pluralistic orientation to knowledge making and social change.
Ponte...nas ondas! (PNO!) promotes the integration of ICH in the formal education system in a multidisciplinary way. Through this heritage many competences can be achieved: learning to relate with others, researching in the environment, working in groups, improving oral expression, solving problems...
The integration of ICH in education can be transversal to different educational programmes, one of the important starting points for progress towards target 4.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The PNO! model, recognised by UNESCO as a "model of good practices", is implemented in the original territory, the Galicia-North Portugal Euroregion, with the collaboration of the educational authorities. Many schools have already adopted the PNO! model in their school project and they are actively involved in the activities proposed by PNO!
The Pedagogical and Cultural Association PNO! engages actively in ICH dissemination practices of own projects like ‘Living Human Treasures’ or ‘Living Libraries’, that are in line with the best practices of intangible cultural heritage. Participating in many publicising and diffusion actions that are necessary to make them known, transmitting its work to whomever is interested, not only to individual people but also to educational institutions, public entities and other cultural institutions, at the national and international level. This is made clear by the number of conference participations and pedagogical implementation develop.
These dissemination actions include publications in languages other than Galician and Portuguese, like Spanish and English, and the design of websites that contribute to the dissemination of the project with free digital ICH content like books, DVD’s, music, poetry, art, etc.
Unlike many ICH projects PNO! is promoted and carried out by the communities, namely the students that are both helping to gather and to promote their ICH, guaranteeing its safeguard and proliferation. These communities aren’t just consenting they are involved thanks to PNO! sensible approach.
For a better understanding, separate pdf files are annexed with certificates/diplomas, one of them with UNESCO approval and examples of activities and accomplishments. Our "glolocal" challenges and solutions are:
a) Intercultural dialogues;
b) Sustainable development and social responsability;
c) Inclusion, respect by differences and equality of opportunities;
d) Taking advantage of the cross-border situation as a cultural and natural resource;
e) The use of local radio stations + school radios + ICH to communicate and envolve local comunities and people;
f) Bridge between the Hispanic world in which Galicia is partially inserted and the Portuguese-speaking world in which itsICH is integrated.
1. In 2004, the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages, a consulting organism of the European Union, recognized the work of PNO! as “an example of good practices in the matter of cooperation and promotion of linguistic diversity”, encouraging other governmental institutions and NGOs to support and sponsor this experience.
2. In 2005, the Xunta of Galicia recognized PNO! with its Galicia Prize of Communication for “Best Initiative in the Field of Communication”.
3. The Association of Galician Language Writers (AELG) also recognized the work of PNO! in that same year (2005) awarding the “Good and Generous” Prize, granted to organizations and entities who develop important cultural work.
4. In 2013, the Spanish Ministry of Culture, Education and Sport, through its Virtual Centre Leer.es, recognized PNO! with the “Seal of Good Ibero-American Practice” for its “quality of experience, in its originality and creativity, upon exploring innovative perspectives, appropriate to the context in which it is developed, adaptable to other media and countries.”
5. In the same year (2013), the Association PNO! was recognized as an “Honorary Judge of Couto Misto” (a territorial enclave on the Galician-Portuguese border) for its work developed with Galician-Portuguese intangible cultural heritage.
6. In 2014, the Association received the ONDAS prize, the most prestigious communication prize in Spain, granted by the PRISA Communication Group, for the “best informative coverage of Galician-Portuguese intangible cultural heritage.”
7. In 2016 UNESCO nominated PNO as a consulting NGO for intangible cultural heritage.
8. In 2017 the Association received the “Peña Novo” prize for the transmission of intangible cultural heritage and for the defense of language, granted by the Peña Novo Foundation.
9. In 2021 Meendinho foundation awarded PNO! by its history.
10. In 2022 PNO wins ARRITMAR award.
11. In 2022, UNESCO inscribes PNO on the list of world good practices of ICH.
Our initiative equip learners and educators with the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for a greener and more sustainable economy and society in UE. Also
help education and training institutions to integrate sustainability into teaching and learning and across all aspects of their operations
create a shared understanding on the deep and transformative changes needed in education and training for sustainability and the green transition.
Besides it underlines the value and knowledge of one item of ICH (the natural knowledge and the vision of nature from a ecosophia and ecological perspective).
Our inititative educate people about the need of a green transition and green live in a new European and world sociosystem.
Ponte nas Ondas (PNO) is establishing a Community of Practice to connect schools, researchers, public authorities and other bodies using the new competence framework of EU to develop a transition into a worl more fair, green and peaceful.
