Documentation and archiving the performing arts
Issues of Intellectual Property Rights and Intangible Cultural Heritage

Issues of rights and ownership of cultural materials have been at the heart of documentation and audio visual archiving for many years. However in recent times, the advances in media, digitization and dissemination through the Internet have brought urgency to these issues in an unprecedented fashion.

In India, most institutions involved in the documentation, preservation and dissemination of expressive culture such as performing arts, music and folklore have, only recently started involving themselves with a concern in this area. The issues of rights come up in all aspects that we work with – in documentation, in how materials are cataloged and processed, in providing access, in publishing and dissemination. The Internet is the major avenue for dissemination for publishing and broadcasting as well as for providing the more traditional access to catalogues. Institutions who document and archive are also experimenting with using materials in performance blurring the boundaries of modern and traditional, contemporary and traditional. All of these present many challenges to those who wish to not only be aware of the legal ramifications but who wish to address moral and ethical issues that arise from their work.

Archives deal with all the stakeholders – researchers, recordists, performers and their communities, and those who want to access and use the materials. It is thus important that they understand the issues thoroughly so they can take a role in developing best practices that reflect the opinions of all those involved. There is a need for us to apprise ourselves of the legal issues, of the copyright law and identify moral and ethical issues that have to be addressed in the Indian context.

Further, the various conventions and declarations of bodies such as the UNESCO through its recognition of Intangible Cultural Heritage, the Memory of the World program and others to which India is a signatory have implications for all of us.

There is a movement of alternate models in other parts of the world, which we also need to study – where moral rights are being made part of the law. There are movements such as Creative Commons, starting to gain ground in India, which need to be explored for their viability in this situation. There is a need to identify the various elements of the Indian context, as models based on the indigenous rights of communities in other parts of the world may not be appropriate for India. For example in a culture where migration, acculturation and assimilation are important factors, we cannot adopt models where community ownership can come in the way of ongoing cultural practices.

Digitisation is gaining ground in all documentation and research projects and archives. This more than anything has changed the environment in which we function today, and has brought the issue regarding Intellectual Property Rights to the forefront for most of us. There are thus also technical aspects of digital rights management that need to be examined as digital dissemination becomes a reality.