Interview

"My name is David Fajolles and I'm the General Secretary of the French National Commission for UNESCO. The French National Commission for UNESCO is delighted to have given its patronage to this wonderful initiative spearheaded by the Villa of Composers and the Scelsi Foundation for the organisation of an event dedicated to the transmission of artistic heritage and the promotion of composers' works.

There are several reasons why we decided to support this initiative. First, as you know, UNESCO has a major role among all the UN agencies in dealing with issues related to the preservation and accessibility of heritage. The aim of the UNESCO National Commissions is to promote and raise awareness of UNESCO's agenda and work in all its areas of expertise, including heritage. When we use the word "heritage", we often think – at any rate when it comes to UNESCO – of world heritage, which is the subject of a major convention covering both natural and cultural heritage. There are also other conventions governing other types of heritage – I'm particularly thinking here of intangible heritage – and then there is a great programme called "Memory of the World" for documentary heritage. I think that the initiative led by the Villa of Composers shows us how this notion of documentary heritage can also include what we might call "living heritage", which is closely related, in this instance, to contemporary artistic creation. We are therefore very happy indeed to be supporting this wonderful French-Italian initiative."

Speaker:

• David Fajolles (video recording) / Secrétaire général de la Commission nationale française pour l’UNESCO