Europe and North America

Teaching South African marimbas in Kaustinen schools following a co-operation project with a South African school marimba band, 2018. © Lauri Oino/Finnish Folk Music Institute archive. Finnish Folk Music Institute (est. 1974, Kansanmusiikki-instituutti in Finnish) is situated in Kaustinen, a municipality of 4300 inhabitants in Central Osthrobothnia. Our personnel is…

The cultural and pedagogical Association Ponte...nas Ondas! ( hereinafter "PNO!" ) is comprised of teachers from Galicia and the north of Portugal who come from different education levels, ranging from compulsory education to University. Galician and Portuguese specialists in pedagogy, philology, anthropology and ethnography have collaborated on the Association's projects.…

Instructor Bill Haneman demonstrating pipe-making techniques at the NPU PipeCraft training facility in Clonshaugh, Co. Dublin, 2011. (Photograph: Gerry Lyons) Na Píobairí Uilleann (NPU), the Society of Uilleann Pipers was founded in 1968 when there were less than 100 uilleann pipers remaining. Today NPU is a thriving arts organisation dedicated…

Le Conseil québécois du patrimoine vivant (CQPV) constitue l’ONG de regroupement national en patrimoine immatériel et traditions vivantes, reconnu par le ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec (Canada). Il rassemble et défend les artistes, artisans, chercheurs, individus et plus de 80 organismes à but non-lucratif dans le domaine des…

The European Association of Folklore Festivals  - EAFF has been established in year 2007 in the ancient capital of Bulgaria – Veliko Tarnovo. Its main purpose is to preserve, develop and make popular the folklore of the different European nations by organizing festivals and using the modern television, computer and…

The Association Européenne des Jeux et Sports Traditionnels (hereinafter referred to as AEJeST), was founded on the 28th of April 2001 at Lesneven (France). It is a sort of Platform which comprises sports and cultural federations, associations, educational institutions or companies whose aim is the management, promotion and the safeguarding of…

The Norwegian Coastal Federation (Forbundet KYSTEN) is an organisation dedicated to the preservation of Norwegian coastal culture and maritime heritage. Its mission – in cooperation with other preservers of cultural interests is: • Promoting the preservation and general use of traditional vessels, buildings, and coastal heritage. • Conducting informational activities…

Representing the Global Funeral Branch. As International NGO accredited with ICH: creating awareness for funeral traditions and funeral heritage worldwide. Domain(s): (a) oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vehicle of the intangible cultural heritage;
 (b) performing arts;
 (c) social practices, rituals and festive events; (e) traditional craftsmanship. Main Safeguarding…

The “Associazione Sant’Antuono & le Battuglie di Pastellessa” was founded on the 1   April 2008. The organization is formed by the ancient “Comitato Sant’Antonio Abate” (St. Anthony Abbot’s Committee), established more than one hundred years ago within the Abbatial Church “San Martino Vescovo” in Macerata Campania, therefore under the jurisdiction…

The Maison des Cultures du Monde (i.e. World Cultures Institute) was founded in Paris in 1982 and is dedicated to supporting cultural diversity and promoting ICH. Welcoming traditional performing arts, especially within the framework of the Festival de l’Imaginaire since 1997, the Maison des Cultures du Monde also provides a…

Mesir Macunu festival Cultural Research Foundation – CRF (Kültürel Araştırmalar Vakfı – KAV), within the scope of its establishment, performs social works in order to constitute heritage awareness at a social level and take steps to protect the traditional values, which are exposed to a swift extinction due to the…

After the crisis of Sicilian traditional puppetry, the Association was established and in 1975 it founded, and still manages, the ethno-anthropological Museo internazionale delle marionette Antonio Pasqualino (Antonio Pasqualino International Puppet Museum), which houses 5,000 items used in traditional puppetry from different countries. lt aims to safeguard and revitalize puppet…

The non-governmental organization CAG (Centre for Agrarian History) is officially recognized by the Flemish Government as an expertise centre for the heritage of agriculture and food. CAG aims to study and safeguard the history of agriculture, countryside and food since 1750. CAG wants to make this heritage accessible for a…

Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) is the National Development Body for the museums and galleries sector in Scotland. MGS supports a sector of some 450 museums and galleries throughout Scotland. MGS was the first accredited ICH NGO in the UK. MGS acts as the representative for Scotland’s museums and galleries; custodians…

Memória Imaterial CRL (Intangible Memory CRL) is the manager and responsible for MEMORIAMEDIA project - a web museum that produces, shows and shares videos, documentaries and studies related with intangible cultural heritage. The MEMORIAMEDIA project began in 2006 (formally in 2008) and has as main objectives: The research, inventorying, safeguarding…

Members of the ENS – the NGO of the Catalan Cultural Association Network – include the 30 most important federations working in the field of Catalan culture. Cultural associations are widely present in Catalan society and have a very particular and unique organisational model. They are the concrete response of…

LECA was founded in 1992 as an ethnology organisation. Currently LECA is acknowledged by the Flemish secretary of Culture as the expertise centre on the culture of everyday life in Flanders, with a distinct focus on the heritage of festivities and rituals and the tradition bearers concerned. With the 2003…

Since 1910 The Norwegian Folk Art and Craft Association have been keeping folk art and crafts vital and continuously developing. As a non-governmental organization with more than 24 000 members, we are the main organization in Norway working to promote crafts locally and nationally, and to improve the awareness and the…

SEA has organized more than 20 ethnographic expeditions to the regions of Belarus and to the regions of neighbouring countries inhabited by Belarusians since 1998. The members of SEA have identified, researched and documented elements of the Belarusian ICH from various domains. The folklore and ethnographic archive of SEA is…

Youth playing and dancing their local traditional couple dance springer from Telemark at the opening ceremony of “Bygda Dansar” (the countryside dances) in the county Telemark in 2013 The Norwegian Centre for Traditional Music and Dance is a private, independent foundation financed by the Norwegian state. The foundation started as…

The Dutch Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage has been coordinating the implementation of the UNESCO Convention (2003) in the Kingdom of the Netherlands since 2012, in the Dutch Caribbean this primarily concerns the public entities of Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius. The Dutch Centre helps practitioners of intangible cultural heritage…

Simbdea (Società Italiana per la Museografia e i Beni Demoetnoantropologici - Italian Society for Museum and Heritage Anthropology) was founded in 2001 and its members are scholars, professionals, amateurs and volunteers who put the anthropological perspective and ethnographic methodologies at the service of the documentation, production, enhancement and dissemination of…

UNPLI is the Italian network of more than 6.000 Pro Loco associations. Many Italian towns and small cities have a "Pro Loco", a civic membership association of volunteers that works with schools, local businesses and institutions in order to project ways to enhance the town and provide assistance to visitors.…

PROMOTING LIVING CRAFTS - The Norwegian Crafts Institute was established in 1987. We work to document, preserve, and promote the knowledge, culture, and professions related to traditional craftsmanship as well as to encourage the general public’s knowledge of and respect for traditional crafts. This work is done in line with UNESCO’s Convention…

Place and date of birth: Scapoli (a little village in Molise region), Italy; public meeting of November 25th, 1990; notarial act of 12.12.1990. Aims: Safeguard and promotion of the traditions, both musically and as a handicraft, connected with the zampogna (the bagpipe of the Centre and Southern Italy). Geographical diffusion…

  Workshop intangible heritage (Werkplaats immaterieel erfgoed, in Dutch) has taken an active role from 2003 onwards in the field regarding the development of policies and network cooperation around living heritage. We take a role as cultural broker in the field, building bridges between governments, institutions, ICH communities and groups,…

  Our national association Cultures & Traditions (ANCT) is convinced that culture has a great part to play in promoting understanding between the different peoples of the world. Using the definition given by Unesco of folklore as being « traditional and popular culture », the Gannat Festival has made a reputation for…