ICHCAP

The 2016 Asia-Pacific ICH NGO Conference is going to be held from 3 to 5 November in Jeonju, Republic of Korea, under the theme Achieving Sustainable Development Goals through Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage.

In this conference, Ms. Beatrice Kaldun, Head of the UNESCO Dhaka Office, will give congratulatory remarks and a topic presentation on the 2003 Convention for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development Goals. Also, Prof. Amareswar Galla, Director of the International Inclusive Museum, will give the keynote speech. Mr. Antoine Gauthier, Executive Director of the Quebec Council for Intangible Heritage (.pdf download), will attend as a representative of the ICH NGO Forum and give a topic presentation on the roles of ICH NGOs for sustainable development.

The first day of the conference is dedicated to plenary sessions of topic presentations and the case study presentations. The topic presentations are about how ICH can contribute to sustainable development, and the case study presentations are manly about two themes—education and community empowerment. In the education session, Waa’gey, an NGO located in Yap, Micronesia, will share its activities on community-based ICH education and transmission. The Mongolian Arts Council will also share its activities on raising the general public’s awareness about ICH. To wrap up the session, the Cambodian Living Arts will share its experience with community restoration through art education after the Khmer Rouge.

During the second case study session—ICH and the Sustainable Development of Communities—Balay ni Atong, a Filipino NGO working for the economic empowerment of communities through traditional textile weaving, will share its activities. And, Ajiyer Fair Trade Limited, a Bangladeshi NGO working for fair trade and tourism, will share its experience. Finally, the Korean Craft & Design Foundation will share its work on the creative succession of ICH for sustainable development.

The second day of the conference will be made up of four divided group sessions. The Center for Intangible Culture Studies (CICS), the Jeonju Cultural Foundation, the Jeonju Social Economy and Urban Regeneration Support Center, and the Korea Traditional Culture Center will lead each session with different topics. The results of each session will be shared during the closing session of the conference on the final day.

On the final day, after the closing ceremony, there will be many ICH performances, such as a bibimbab performance, taekkyeon (a traditional Korean martial art), tug-of-war, and nongak.