Our story
This chapter in The Routledge Companion to Intangible Cultural Heritage describes the establishment of #Ecoamgueddfa LlÅ·n, the first ecomuseum in Wales and to our knowledge one of the first in the world to be fully digital – in other words, an ecomuseum that employs digital platforms to both manage and promote itself and make its resources increasingly available to a global audience.
The chapter describes how the people currently inhabiting a small corner of Wales have started realising their ambitions of preserving, promoting and celebrating their language, culture and heritage and by doing so faced up to the economic and social realities and challenges of modern-day life ‘on the edge’.
We explore how the ecomuseum concept has been adapted to this location, how it has evolved and is continuing to do so by introducing the people involved and witnessing the partnership that has developed.
The people of Pen LlÅ·n share a vision and a dream of using the natural resource base, the natural capital and human capital to secure a better economic future whilst celebrating the intangible cultural heritage they hold dear.
The vision described is not exclusive, it can easily be translated and adapted to other locations and situations. Wherever people value their landscape, their language, their culture and heritage, there is potential for a location-specific ecomuseum to emerge and thrive.
Uniquely, #Ecoamgueddfa LlÅ·n is based in the only place on Earth where Welsh is the majority language of the local population and is the main intangible cultural asset. We demonstrate that adopting a digital approach makes it possible to bring Welsh, Welshness and the associated Intangible Cultural Heritage to a global audience.
Books and the chapters therein have shelf lives. No sooner than the words are written, they are out of date. The #Ecoamgueddfa is a moving feast; things change daily. The key to progress is agility, flexibility and the ability to adapt and change as required together with total commitment to the concept of co-working, co-developing and co-promoting
