Kaleidoscope inscribed into UNESCO Memory of the World New Zealand documentary heritage register

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision is very pleased to announce that the seminal arts documentary television series, Kaleidoscope has been inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World New Zealand documentary heritage register. The register draws attention to the significance of documentary heritage and the institutions that care for it.

The Kaleidoscope series was one of seven heritage collections of New Zealand history inscribed to the register this year with the announcements being made at an event at the Auckland Public Library on Wednesday 29 November.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision’s Chief Executive, Rebecca Elvy says “Ngā Taonga is delighted to see the television series, Kaleidoscope inscribed into the prestigious Memory of the World register. This award-winning documentary series profiled New Zealand artists and their work at an important time in the country’s cultural history. Broadcast from 1976 to 1989, it provided a forum for exploring our ideas of nationhood and reflected the country’s increasingly Pacific-centric identity. The series contains hundreds of unique, longer-form interviews with New Zealand artists and has become an invaluable resource which continues to be heavily used in many arts programmes.”

The series was originally produced and broadcast by Television New Zealand (TVNZ) and is part of the TVNZ collection owned by Manatū Taonga – the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

About UNESCO Memory of the World

UNESCO launched the Memory of the World Programme in 1992 and sits alongside UNESCO’s World Heritage List and Register of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The Memory of the World register is the Programme’s flagship and promotes heritage stories at three levels, international, regional and national. The New Zealand Programme was established in 2010. Further information about Memory of the World and the inscriptions on the register can be viewed on www.unescomow.org.nz.

• Memory of the World operates at international, regional and local levels – NZ presence at all 3 levels and the significance of this to NZ and worldwide
• UNESCO’s recognition draws attention to the significance of the documentary heritage and its institution’s role as custodian.
• Inscription on the register raises awareness of the institutions holdings and ensures they are protected and supported.
• The NZ register promotes the heritage stories of our country to the wider community and to other countries.
• The Programme is the only one in New Zealand that takes an overview of all New Zealand’s documentary heritage.
• The New Zealand Programme is part of the international community working to promote the importance of documentary heritage through the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme.