ActAr

PRIN | Projects of Relevant National Interest

Active archives and contemporary media: restitution, participation, valorisation of the sound heritage and community memories.

ACTAR (from “Active Archives”) is a project gathering four research units from the Universities of Florence, Sapienza University of Rome, Pavia/Cremona campus, and Tor Vergata University of Rome, to investigate archives of ethnomusicological interest and the strategies to better valorize them, together with the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) and socio-cultural memories sedimented in them: in a word, to make them “active archives”. 

Within ACTAR’s framework, sound archives are understood as a knowledge and memorial device which, when activated, can elicit multifaceted relationships and promote socio-cultural processes of human wellbeing. Therefore, ACTAR aspires to foster a possible emancipation of archives from a “static” place of protection to an active vector of knowledge, awareness, exchange, integration and ideation: in this perspective, preservation, sustainability, valorization, repatriation and dissemination are identified as key concepts for designing activation strategies. As a matter of fact, recent scholarly literature has stressed that citizen participation and community involvement are essential for ICH valorization: thus, ACTAR intends to include individuals and entities of the different local communities in a participatory framework aimed at designing and implementing innovative and effective valorization initiatives, to repatriate the collections and disseminate them to a wider social audience. 

The four research units operate independently on selected historic or recent archival collections of ethnomusicological interest, sharing theoretical approaches and methodologies. The first goal is to contribute to the safeguarding of the archives and the heritages sedimented in them, so that their sustainability can be strengthened: in this regard, activities are carried out to study and systematize the collections, describe them, create inventories, digitize sources, and supplement the collections with new field surveys. The second goal is to promote a deeper and wider understanding and knowledge of the processes and heritages investigated among the scientific community and other interested groups, locally and internationally, with activities such as the critical editions of sound collections, the publication of scholarly volumes, the organization of opportunities for exchange and reflection. The ultimate goal is to valorize the archives and the heritages sedimented in them, experimenting with innovative practices of repatriation and dissemination targeted at a diverse audience, including primarily the protagonist communities: these activities are oriented towards two interrelated contexts, that is, the digital setting of web platforms and networks, and the territorial setting, directly involving local entities and structures such as schools, museums, libraries, archives, associations.