Use and Management of Cultural Heritage
Orientation
The proposed title is justified and planned considering its professional orientation.
The progressive role of heritage in our society, due to its new cultural, educational and economic position, together with the progressive implementation of projects and services related to it, increasingly requires the incorporation of professionals with specific quality training.
This initiative aims to offer in an innovative way all the theoretical and practical experience accumulated by the teaching team, to respond to the needs of a recognized and growing space for training and exchange for agents involved in Heritage intervention.
Social demand studies
Throughout history, teaching at the University has had to adapt, evolving from the transmission of essentially theoretical knowledge, removed from the material needs of society, towards a more practical and operational approach that seeks to foresee and meet those needs.
From the surveys, polls and studies consulted, it can be concluded that the field of cultural goods, tourism and cultural leisure is undoubtedly the one that provides the emerging professions with the most future.
The EU, within the framework of the “Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Employment”, understood that Culture and Heritage were a key sector for catalysing and promoting innovation, growth and employability within the EU. As can be seen from a recent independent study carried out for the European Commission, it was found that more than 3.11% of the total employed population works in the cultural sector, which contributes approximately 2.8% to the EU GDP (3.4% for France and 2.3% for Spain. Source Eurostat). Culture and Heritage, with the industries and creativity they generate, therefore constitute an essential asset for the European economy and competitiveness in a context of globalisation.
As stated in the “Green Paper: Unlocking the potential of the cultural and creative industries”, COM and in the Commission Communication “Europe 2020: A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth”, COM (2010).
Directly, for the whole of Spain, according to statistical data from the Ministry of Culture for 2008, the GDP corresponding to heritage, which includes activities linked to the management and exploitation of elements of Cultural Heritage, such as historical monuments, museums and archaeological sites, generated as a result of their opening to public use, has grown at a strong pace since 2000, with an average annual growth rate of 13.31 TP3T, much higher than that observed in the Spanish economy as a whole, 7.11 TP3T, and the rest of the cultural sectors studied. In just 4 years, from 2004 to 2008, the GDP associated with Cultural Heritage has doubled.
More specifically, in relation to the direct impact of Culture on the economy of the Canary Islands, it should be noted that in recent years there has been a significant growth in the Canary Islands cultural sector. The evolution of cultural employment has been clearly positive with a growth of 481% from 2000 to 2008 (reaching the figure of 21,900 jobs) and slightly higher than the Spanish average of 431%3T.
The Canary Islands' wealth of heritage, with more than 600 real estate properties and 400 movable properties registered as Assets of Cultural Interest, is largely preserved and disseminated in a multitude of spaces, including 57 museums and museum collections, which received 2.5 million visitors in 2008 (with only 12.41% of foreign visitors), archaeological sites, monumental complexes, archives, etc. To which must be added the extremely rich "intangible heritage" with an extensive and very varied universe that ranges from the Gomero whistle, declared Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, to the scientific knowledge derived from ethnographic heritage, crafts and art trades.
These aspects and the need for a professional management of them have been repeatedly highlighted by European regional bodies and institutions such as the ARE, CRPM or the Committee of the Regions (CoR) itself. They have expressed in their various agreements, reports and proposals the opportunity that Heritage and Culture, with all the areas that are specific to them or related to them, are the driving force and the future of economic progress for the Regions, especially for the peripheral ones and in a very prominent way for the Ultraperipheral Regions (OR), as is evident in the latest "Community Strategy for the ORs".
Likewise, the Ibero-American Summits of Heads of State and Government have reiterated the importance of promoting, protecting and disseminating the vast legacy that is the common cultural heritage. This issue is magnified and institutionalized with the “Ibero-American Cultural Charter”, issued in Montevideo in 2006, which states that: “The protection of cultural heritage through its recognition, transmission, promotion, and compliance with appropriate measures requires the participation of society as a whole and is an essential responsibility of public power.” It also states that: “The social appropriation of heritage ensures both its preservation and its enjoyment by citizens.”
Tourism cannot be left out of these aspects, since it is increasingly the cultural factor that drives and guides their strategies. However, in the Canary Islands, strategic reflection on the necessary relationship and interrelation between tourism and culture, with all the added value that this currently entails, has not yet been sufficiently consolidated.
