Since yore, this violin has been preserved and handed down from generation to generation as a traditional heritage. There is no exact record in what year and era it appeared. The violin was played on the occasions of the royal, housewarming, wedding and funeral since time immemorial. All to the melodies are the same. \nAccording to the ceremonies, the lyrics and words of the song are different.

Stories carry our history, our culture, and our traditions from generation to generation. Storytelling preserves and perpetuates this intangible cultural heritage while creating an emotional connection between the storyteller and the listener. In refugee camps, where communities look to their past for a sense of comfort and familiarity, important lessons and values are remembered by the older generations and passed down to younger generations through these stories.

The information society built on the development of information and communication technology (ICT) is bringing about revolutionary change to humanity, such as the smooth dissemination of knowledge and information, promotion of communication, and an enhanced quality of living even if accompanied by other negative effects. Growing access to the internet is completely revising the very meaning of information services, thus creating a new environment. The possibilities of networking, mutual cooperation, and digitization created in this environment is effecting fundamental change in the functions of information acquisition, storage, and dissemination.\nSuch development in ICT presents new approaches in the field of cultural heritage as well. The appropriate utilization of ICT in the safeguarding and promotion of ICH is inspiring hope for a whole new ICH safeguarding system, going beyond traditional methods. Making ICH-related knowledge and information more accessible and usable to a larger public through ICT will contribute to ICH safeguarding and cultural diversity.

This paper presents UNESCO’s approaches and activities under two functions: 1) the standard‐setting function, which is mostly carried out at headquarters level through intergovernmental committees and in close collaboration with Member States; and 2) the “laboratory of ideas” function, which is implemented at the national level by UNESCO field offices. Capacity building, at both the institutional and individual levels, is a major focus that is integrated throughout all our work.

This paper accompanies a shorter presentation to the ICHCAP Forum ‘Unlocking the Potential of Tertiary Education for ICH Safeguarding’, held in Seoul, Republic of Korea in July 2018. \n\nAlong with other speakers from the Asia-Pacific Region, I have been asked to outline and explain the educational approach to intangible cultural heritage safeguarding in the post-graduate teaching courses in the Cultural Heritage & Museum Studies program at Deakin University, located in the Australian State of Victoria. Deakin is a relatively young university within Australia, established in 1974, and named after Alfred Deakin, leader of the Australian federation movement and Australia’s second Prime Minister. \n\nDeakin University is located in the Australian State of Victoria and has four physical campuses as well as its ‘Cloud campus’ (for on-line delivery). The Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies program is located at the Melbourne campus, on the Country (Traditional Lands) of the Wurundjeri people, and provides both on-campus and Cloud (online) delivery of its courses. Deakin has a long-standing commitment to flexible and on-line learning. Deakin’s LIVE the Future Agenda 2020 has as its first Strategy for its ‘Learning’ objective: ‘Provide premium cloud and located learning’. The Cloud campus is the fastest growing of its campuses, with more than 13,000 students now studying predominantly on-line (Deakin University 2017: p. 5). All Deakin’s programs aim to allow students to take courses wherever they are, and to study ‘anytime’. In practice, this has allowed Deakin to be an inclusive tertiary education provider, supporting people to be able to undertake their studies, alongside work/caring responsibilities, or located in rural and regional locations (or even outside Australia).

The Law on Cultural Heritage of Vietnam (adopted in 2001, revised in 2009) is the most important legal tool for safeguarding heritage, both natural and cultural, and tangible and intangible, in Vietnam. Compatible to UNESCO’s 2003 Convention on safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, the Law on Cultural Heritage of Vietnam acknowledges and protects the cultural creations of the community produced out of their own needs, through their awareness and labour. Such cultures have a strong attachment to them from one generation to another and become the identity of the community or groups of people in society and their heritage and the heritage of the nation and humankind. Lên Đồng (mediumship) is a religious practice of the Viet/Kinh, the majority group in Vietnam. This ritual originated from the worship of the Mother Goddess. Lên Đồng possibly started in the 15th century and has existed continuously in the people’s life. Yet, in some periods of time, it was not recognized and thus was not practiced openly. Today, Lên Đồng and the worship of the Mother Goddess are open, common and developed in Vietnam. Their values and practice are being studied, clarified and acknowledged for their protection as a national heritage. This work has been carried out with good results thanks to the participation of many scholars, cultural policy makers and especially the self-awareness of identifying and introducing the values of this cultural heritage of the Mother Goddess Worship community. We’d like to express our thanks to ICHCAP and the authorities of Jindo City for inviting us to this Workshop “Safeguarding Shamanism Heritage in Asia”. My paper will present a case study entitled “Together with the community identifying the values, safeguarding Lên đồng mediumship, a Shamanism heritage in Vietnam”

In 1995, pangalay dance guru Ligaya Fernando-Amilbangsa stopped teaching. The lack of diligence among students of traditional dance had caused her to lose her enthusiasm. Hopeful dancers requesting lessons at first failed to convince her to change her mind. But in January 1999 she decided to teach again, having collected a long list of applicants in the intervening years. Thus began a weekly community dance workshop in her suburban home in Antipolo City, Mega Manila. For those who joined the weekly sessions, learning from a dance master was exhilarating, especially on the eve of a new millennium. In 2000 the excitement over pangalay and other traditional dances of the Sulu Archipelago inspired the motley group of dance students under teacher Ligaya to formally establish the AlunAlun Dance Circle (ADC), with their mentor as company artistic director. ADC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving, conserving, and propagating pangalay, which, according to teacher Ligaya, has “the richest movement vocabulary among all Philippine dances, and the living link to the dance cultures in Asia.”

Co-orgarnized by ICHCAP and Hue Monuments Conservation Centre (HMCC), this year’s Asia-Pacific ICH NGO Conference was held in Hue, Vietnam under the theme of ICH NGOs towards Sustainable Development of Communities.

A shaman, known as a jhankri or dhami in Nepal, is a part of a unique tradition that is based on spiritual belief. Nepalese society, with its deep-rooted religious faith in supernatural powers, still believes that miseries, illnesses, and bad luck are caused by evil powers and that these ill effects and consequences of evil can be removed or treated by evoking divine power. It is believed that a properly trained jhankri is gifted with the ability to gain intimate knowledge of supernatural beings—their whereabouts, desires, dislikes, and requirements—and drawing out their divine spirit to remove evil and thus cure the inflicted.

During the Khmer Rouge regime, 90 percent of Cambodia’s artists were killed; centuries of artistic traditions, passed through generations were in danger of being lost. In 1998, Cambodian Living Arts (CLA) began working in the country with a mission to revive and develop traditional arts. Today, our aims have broadened—CLA operates as a cultural agency supporting the development of the arts sector, from education, to policy, cultural exchange, and festivals. We have two centers, one in Phnom Penh, from which we operate national programs and have a strong focus on leadership and creativity. Our second center is in Siem Reap, and we position this as the Heritage Hub.