The United Nations(UN) World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is annually celebrated on October 27 globally to commemorate the adoption of the Recommendation for the Safeguarding and Preservation of Moving Images in 1980 by the 21st General Conference of UNESCO(United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).UNESCO, in collaboration with the Co-ordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations (CCAAA) and other institutions, has helped to raise the profile of the issues at stake and focus global attention on the fragility of audiovisual heritage
i.The day aims to raise awareness of the need to take urgent measures and to acknowledge the importance of audiovisual documents.
ii.The day also honours the audiovisual preservation professionals and institutions that preserve the heritage for future generations.
Theme of World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2020– ‘Your Window to the World’.
About the theme
i.The audiovisual materials as the documentary heritage objects provide a Window to the World, as events are observed but cannot be attended by people, voices can be heard from the past who can no longer speak, stories can be crafted that inform and entertain.
ii.The Audiovisual content plays an important role in the lives of people to understand the world and engage with fellow human beings.
Events 2020
The Memory of the World (MoW) Programme of UNESCO through the Preservation Sub-Committee of the Programme’s International Advisory Committee (IAC) and in partnership with the Information for All (IFAP) Information Preservation Working Group will organize a webinar titled, “Documentary Heritage at Risk: Policy Gaps in Digital Preservation”.
BackGround
i.In October, 2005 the 33rd session of UNESCO’s General Conference held at Paris, France adopted 33 C/Resolution 53 to proclaim 27 October as the day.
ii.The 1st day was observed in 2006.
World Day for Audiovisual Heritage
i.The day serves as an opportunity for Member States to assess their performance with respect to implementing the 2015 ‘Recommendation concerning the preservation of, and access to, documentary heritage including in digital form’.
ii.The day also promotes the free flow of ideas through word and image as a representation of the shared tradition and memory.
iii.By doing so, the day highlights the role of heritage to build the defenses of peace in people’s minds.
Initiatives of UNESCO
i.To manage the range of technical, political, social, financial and other factors that threaten the safeguarding of audiovisual heritage, the work of preservation professionals is encouraged through the initiatives of UNESCO such as the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage, the Memory of the World Programme, and Archives project “Digitizing our shared UNESCO history”
About UNESCO:
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is the acronym of UNESCO
HeadQuarters– Paris, France
Director-General– Audrey Azoulay
