Founded in 2019 by Aicha Chighaly, the Mauritanian company ARDINE works on promoting and preserving intangible oral and traditional heritage. Working hand-in-hand with the authorities, it draws up recommendations to enable identity-based, organisational and societal values to be better taken into account.
As a seasoned artist and avid traveller, Chighaly quickly became aware of the importance of museums in preserving heritage and the history of identities. The result was the ARDINE museum and festival, both the fruit of the ART’DUNES project.
These two spaces for expression, one focused on heritage preservation and the other on showcasing traditional artistic creation, are united by a desire to ensure that Mauritanian cultural memory lives on.
The association has already been very successful, with some one hundred women and 300 young people trained in different crafts and the making of instruments, including the ardine, the t’beul and other percussion instruments.
The Association pour le Développement Local et la Protection de l'Environnement (Association for Local Development and Environmental Protection, ADELPE) has set itself the goal of contributing to the promotion of Mauritanian cultural and natural heritage through cultural and educational activities organised in Goural and the surrounding area.
It was not by chance that the town of Goural was chosen as the hub for the NGO’s work: there is already a museum here, opened in 2016, which requires some support in order to improve its services.
In addition to developing the museum through the acquisition of works and objects, the project plans include an annual cultural festival, the organisation of museum tours and development of the website dedicated to its activities, which will also offer virtual tours. A wider audience will be able to follow all these actions on social media.
Valorisation des styles musicaux en voie de disparition
The TERANIM Centre for Popular Arts is an independent cultural institution, committed since 2014 to a plural society proud of its arts. It is interested in the revival of Mauritanian popular heritage and particularly in the music inherited from the former slaves, "the Haratines".
The "Promotion of disappearing musical styles" project targets groups of young popular singers (girls and boys), unknown to the general public, but with undeniable talent. 20 young people, aged between 16 and 35, will have the opportunity to practice their art through educational workshops and conferences. The project will ensure links with local communities, with the aim of creating a reference framework for the development and conservation of this heritage.