Institutional site : Musée de Mankon
The project called “Training, Protecting, and Developing Artistic-Cultural Heritage in Cameroon” was launched by an Italian NGO: COE, Centro di Orientamento Educativo based in Barzio (Italy). It has been operational in Cameroon since 1970 via development projects in the fields of health, education, training, and agriculture. In Mbalmayo, in the country’s central region, the COE operates as a Center for Social Promotion. In addition to other initiatives taken in the city, it established the IFA, Institut de Formation Artistique, the only artistically oriented school currently open in the country. Artistic heritage is one of the COE’s focal points and the institution plays a role in protecting and promoting artistic heritage in all countries in which it sponsors development projects. The enormously rich potential of protecting and promoting Cameroonian artistic heritage is what led the COE to launch this initiative. The project was conceived and organized by architect Bianca Triaca, a COE expert. The scientific director was Jean-Paul Notué, a professor of art history, museology, and anthropology at Yaoundé University I. The museographic aspect was entrusted to architect and UNESCO expert Antonia Piva, a professor of architecture and design at the Politecnico di Milano. The main objectives included: protecting and promoting Cameroon’s cultural and artistic heritage in its living context; promoting dynamics of cultural and economic development in the regions covered, but also elsewhere in the country; training Cameroon’s young people for new professions in the field of cultural asset management; creating new job opportunities.