Dear Colleagues
I have pasted the text below from UNESCO's website. This is an
opportunity to help to ensure that the frame of reference for this
annual event adequately recognises the rich diversity of sound archives.
The laudable intention behind this initiative is raising the public
profile of sound and moving image heritage, in which our profession
plays a central role.
Reaching this point has involved a deal of lobbying and hard work on the
international scene and I would encourage you to follow the link at the
bottom and participate in this exercise. Please note the deadline at the
end of July.
Regards to all,
Crispin
--------------
Crispin Jewitt
Convenor, CCAAA
c/o The British Library Sound Archive
96 Euston Road
London NW1 2DB
United Kingdom
www.ccaaa.org 

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UNESCO has now launched a public consultation on the objectives,
practicalities, costs and expected results of a "World Day for
Audiovisual Heritage" to be celebrated annually on 27 October to build
global awareness of the various issues at stake in preserving the
audiovisual heritage. 
Sound recordings and moving images in any form are vulnerable, and
easily discarded or deliberately destroyed. Too much of the world's 20th
century audiovisual heritage is now lost, and much more is slipping
beyond recovery because of neglect, natural decay and technological
obsolescence. Unless public awareness of the importance of preservation
is increased, this trend will continue. 

Therefore, in response to a proposal by the Czech Republic in October
2005, UNESCO's General Conference approved the proclamation of 27
October as the annual World Day for Audiovisual Heritage. The World Day
for Audiovisual Heritage can be a means of building global awareness of
the various issues at stake in preserving the audiovisual heritage. In
accordance with normal practice, a feasibility study has been commenced
to test the objectives, practicalities, costs and expected results of
such an annual commemoration. 

The date is significant. On 27 October 1980, the General Conference
adopted the "Recommendation for the safeguarding and preservation of
moving images", the first international instrument to declare the
cultural and historical importance of film and television recordings,
and calling for decisive steps to ensure their preservation. 

In today's digital age, that call is going out to an even wider
spectrum. More recent initiatives, such as the "World Appeal for the
Preservation of Broadcast Heritage" (initiated by the International
Federation of Television Archives) - which has so far garnered over
10,000 signatures - will also be embraced in the feasibility study. 

Public consultation is a crucial part of the feasibility study, and it
is open to everyone. UNESCO has therefore established an online platform
with background documents, a public forum and a questionnaire, which can
be accessed at
http://www.unesco.org/cgi-bin/webworld/portalsforum/gforum.cgi?forum=5

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