Tamara Nikolić Đerić

Tamara Nikolić Đerić, PhD, senior curator, holds degrees in Cultural anthropology and Indology. For 15 years Tamara has been working as curator at the Ethnographic Museum of Istria. Along with research, exhibition production, documentation, and digitalisation, she founded and managed for 10 years the first Ethnographic film festival in Croatia. Tamara collaborates regularly with UNESCO Living Heritage Entity (LHE) as a facilitator for the implementation of the 2003 Convention for the safeguarding of ICH. Since 2023 she has worked as an independent curator and heritage consultant. 

One of the projects she has grown with is the Batana Ecomuseum (UNESCO Register of Good safeguarding practices), partner in the Living Heritage Journeys project.  As a project manager and ICH expert, Tamara is deeply committed to bringing to her local community international experiences and opportunities to enrich and strengthen their safeguarding measures.  

The ecomuseological approach to living heritage is deeply rooted in the territory and its community. This is why the batana boat has never been ‘just’ a few pieces of wood put together. It has been the soul and breadwinner for many local inhabitants for centuries. Once used for fishing and, since the 1960’s, connected with tourism, batana is present in the harbour, at sea, in the interpretation centre but also in Rovinj’s kitchens; and what better way to connect all these elements than through food? Ecomuseum Batana will be exploring local food heritage connected with batana making locals proud of their heritage and offering visitors an opportunity to deeply connect with the host community.