Who should be directly involved in safeguarding heritage?

The responsibility for conserving, protecting and safeguarding heritage, whether tangible or intangible, lies primarily with :

• Specialised international organisations which have created a series of conventions and recommendations. 

It should be mentioned that not only UNESCO is involved in the protection of the World Heritage but also the Council of Europe and the European Commission. This is how the Faro Convention appeared under the patronage of the Council of Europe. This document, unlike those that appeared under the patronage of UNESCO, concentrates primarily upon how the cultural heritage can be used sustainably to create economic and social conditions favourable to the survival of diverse communities ( COE , 2014)  and introduces through some articles new ideas such as article 4 which reinforces a key idea: rights to cultural heritage, or article 14 which reaffirms the need to establish connections between cultural heritage and the information society. In addition, we should mention the Council of Europe's concerns regarding the participatory governance of cultural heritage (Council of Europe, 2014). The novelty of the Council of Europe's work on cultural heritage is the introduction of the idea of participatory governance to develop governance frameworks. These will ensure that cultural heritage is recognised as a shared resource in strengthening links at local, regional and national levels. It is through the efforts of these international organisations that established a series of conventions that we have come to protect cultural heritage.

• The national states and public authorities on whose territory the cultural goods are located are obliged by law to  protect, safeguard and preserve the heritage whether it is of national, regional or local importance.
• The community - it directly inherits the heritage of past generations, it also contributes to its perpetuation, it actively participates in the improvement of this heritage by adding its own experience, by introducing modern elements into the traditional composition and structure, resulting in a heritage as valuable as the inherited one because it also integrates their vision, philosophy and work. The community creates the "bridges" between the modern and the traditional and plays an important role in the formation of the contemporary/modern heritage. We focus on the role of community-based art as an actor in the process of saving intangible heritage, as our HEART project was conceived based on this concept.