Unfolding Cultural Heritage is an international cooperation project between the region of the Greater Accra (Ghana) and Salento (Italy). It provides for residencies and exchanges, training and co-design workshops, activities between experts of culture and artists, institutions, network and local communities focusing on the re-emergence of non-material and oral heritage and on new narratives through the arts.

It represents the first piece of the collaboration between Ramdom APS, no profit artistic organization with its head office in KORA – Contemporary Arts Center, in Castrignano de’ Greci (LE); Artlife Matters LGB, a Ghana-based organization in Accra, which promotes art as the tool of social, cultural and economic development; and the Library and Museum Centre of Lecce, headquartered at the Castromediano Museum and Bernardini Library in Lecce. The protocol of intent aims to foster cooperation and intercultural dialogue through joint planning, with a focus on strengthening the skills of professionals working in museums and libraries to enable continuous exchanges. The arts and various forms of expression will serve as tools for interpreting both tangible and intangible heritage, and for promoting sustainability values. The project ultimately aims to raise public awareness of civic responsibility, international solidarity, respect for nature, peace, and the goals of the 2030 Agenda.

Training and Networking (May – November 2025)

The first phase is dedicated to capacity building, networking, and co-design, carried out through online meetings addressed to public and private organizations, cultural and creative professionals and cultural operators active in cultural planning, international cooperation and social innovation.

This process will focus on four main key areas:

1. Museums and Libraries in the 2030 Agenda;

2. Arts and New Languages for the Emergence and Enhancement of Intangible Heritage;

3. Community Engagement;

4. New Technologies and New Narratives.

Registrations will be collected through a call for participants, with the aim of expanding the collaboration network and developing new international cooperation initiatives.

Art Residency in Tutu (July – August 2025)

Unfolding Cultural Heritage will carry out a shared research agenda focused on innovative methods for communicating intangible heritage in ways that resonate with contemporary audiences. Through skill development and the exchange of experiences across different contexts, younger generations will contribute to a renewed understanding of globalization, inequality, and evolving cultural boundaries.eo.

Additional project activities will involve forming a collective that includes a Ghanaian children’s book illustrator and publisher, along with an Italian illustrator and sound designer.

The Artlife Matters team will organize a residency during July and August in the village of Tutu, situated on the border between the Western Region and Greater Accra.

The selected group of artists will focus their work on folklore, encompassing historical tales, sayings, and oral traditional performances, as well as the talking drums that mimic the tonal inflections of human speech. These forms of communication serve essential functions beyond mere entertainment. They are traditions passed down through generations, sustained by the community.

The project will produce audio-visual materials for a digital archive, create a published project book for children, and design a collective mural to celebrate these traditions.

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After the co-design and study phase, the artists and collaborators will meet from August 14 to 25 for a residency between Accra and Tutu, in a program of events that includes discussions, performances, and the presentation of works and materials created with and for the local community.

A collective has been formed consisting of: Gianle Lametà, illustrator from Lecce; Massimo Carozzi, sound artist from Bologna; Kizito Amartey, artist; Clare Asantewaa Afari, writer and cultural operator; Albert Nii Korley, video and sound artist; and Bright Tetteh Ackwerh, illustrator.
Their research focused on the intangible heritage of the town of Tutu, on the border between the Greater Accra and Eastern regions, in a re-narrative that explores how oral literature, folkloric traditions, and the language of drums can be documented, reinterpreted, and passed on to future generations through participatory and artistic methods.

The resulting book contains stories contributed and developed by artists, cultural operators, and members of the community. It includes a visual map connecting the main historical sites of Tutu to an audio archive of voices and stories, and an illustrated book narrating the origins of the tradition of talking drums. The textual products and interactive online content are multilingual, starting with the local Akuapem Twi dialect and also accessible in English and Italian. During the artistic residency, which will take place from August 14 to 25, a collective mural will be created to celebrate Tutu’s living heritage, with the involvement of its inhabitants of all ages.

The products created will contribute to the construction of the new community center for cultural heritage “Tutu Wɔ Bi Ka” – which in the Twi language means “Tutu has a story” – which will be inaugurated on August 22 on World Folklore Day. The “Tutu Wɔ Bi Ka” center will thus be a living archive and a space for cultural exchange, offering the community the opportunity to document, celebrate, and reinterpret its heritage. The model proposed by Unfolding Cultural Heritage can be replicated in other rural contexts, creating bridges between oral history and digital access, between local voices and a global audience.

Luigi De Luca, director of the Lecce Library and Museum Center, and Ada Facchini, librarian at Ramdom and head of the Unfolding Cultural Heritage project, will also participate in the residency.

PROGRAMME

August 20: Official presentation of the project at the Italian Embassy in Accra
August 21: Round table discussion at the ArtHaus cultural center in Mampong, founded by artist Kofi Setordji – A public discussion bringing together members of the Tutu community and international partners to share experiences, challenges, and future prospects for the Tutu Wɔ Bi Ka Heritage Center
August 22: Official inauguration of the “Tutu Wɔ Bi Ka” Heritage Center and presentation of the results of the Unfolding Cultural Heritage project: A celebration marking the opening of the community center for cultural heritage, a participatory space dedicated to the preservation and transmission of local memory. The program includes guided tours, performances, and presentations of the stories, sounds, and works produced: the illustrated book connected to a sound archive, sound mapping, and the collective mural.
August 23: Visit and discussion at the Kyinkyim Museum, the open-air museum founded by multidisciplinary artist Kwame Akoto-Bamfo and dedicated to African history and heritage, reinterpreting its narrative through visual and performing arts.