Industrialisation, urban development, mass tourism, the standardisation of lifestyles and of the various forms of knowledge and skills, all constitute a context which places heritage related skills and traditional crafts in a vulnerable position.
In the follow-up to its Resolution 2269 (2019) and Recommendation 2148 (2019) on “Safeguarding and enhancing intangible cultural heritage in Europe”, the Parliamentary Assembly could consider specific measures and incentives that are needed to sustain traditional crafts but also to help them to be open to innovation and the use of new technologies. The aim should be to enable traditional crafts to develop and move with the times, and not to rigidly entrench age-old practices by seeking to shield this area of intangible cultural heritage.
Crafts offer a huge repository of skills. The “maker movement” has opened up new spaces that use technologies and creativity to repair, revise and refashion products, as well as to make new products. Adequate training or education are required to ensure the preservation and transmission of those skills, but also to widen their range, so that they can be a resource for the future, and for innovation.
The Assembly could recommend expanding the ongoing activities under the European Heritage Strategy for the 21st century and the Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (Faro Convention) (CETS No. 199) to assist member States in this field.