The Vietnamese Institute for Musicology and the Binh Dinh Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism have jointly organized Bai choi Folk Art of Vietnam and Similar Art Forms around the World, an international conference held on 13 and 14 January 2015 in Qui Nhon City, Binh Dinh Province, Vietnam.

This article briefly presents a framework designed to gauge the level of vitality or endangerment of music traditions and suggests how the tool can be used to inform music safeguarding activities across contexts. The framework is the Music Vitality and Endangerment Framework (MVEF), developed and first presented in my book Music Endangerment: How Language Maintenance Can Help (Grant, 2014). The MVEF draws inspiration from various language vitality assessment tools, particularly UNESCO’s Language Vitality Framework (2003). In the absence of any such tool for gauging music vitality or endangerment across contexts, the MVEF was developed to fill this gap.

Cambodian Living Arts’ (CLA) mission is to be a catalyst in a vibrant arts sector, inspiring new generations. Established in 1998, the organization’s original goal was to keep Cambodia’s endangered intangible heritage alive. As the context of Cambodia changed, and a new generation of artists began to emerge, CLA started offering scholarships, fellowships and professional development training, whilst creating job opportunities and encouraging cultural entrepreneurship. To support the transforming environment, CLA also engaged in cultural policy advocacy, supported the development of arts education in public schools and built new audiences for arts. CLA’s programs aim to give artists the resources and opportunities to start telling stories of contemporary Cambodia. Cambodian Living Arts believes that arts are at the heart of a vital society and supports cultural participation for all.

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.

Jeonju is the most popular city in Korea for its traditional culture. Jeonju is ranked number one in terms of the number of living human treasures, the cultural heritage index, and the traditional cultural and art performance index, indicating that traditional culture is more actively practiced and performed in the city than any other city in the country. Against this backdrop, the Korean government designated Jeonju a traditional cultural city, and traditional culture has been at the heart of the urban-development strategies of Jeonju. The city’s rich traditional culture dates far back in history.

Long known as the cradle of civilization, the area that bounds from the fertile valleys of Al-Hasakeh, across the ancient deserts of Palmyra, and westward to the Mediterranean Sea, includes present-day Syria. Due to the vastness of the region, it is no wonder that Syrian cuisine boasts a rich culinary heritage dened by exceptional diversity and human creativity.

Culture. Is it still relevant in the twenty first century, the age of globalization? Can culture provide useful input in solving the problems of development, democracy, economy, environment, urban development, interfaith, and social development? Such questions on the role of culture have become targets of attention and debate among world leaders and experts today.

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.

"Comprising more than 17,500 islands, 1,300 ethnici- ties, and over 500 vernacular languages, Indonesia is blessed with an incredibly diverse heritage, both nat- ural and cultural, tangible and intangible. However, this also poses a tremendous challenge, particularly when it comes to safeguarding and conserving such a colorful collection of heritage. Badan Pelestarian Pusaka Indonesia (BPPI, the Indonesian Heritage Trust) was founded to answer the challenges of safeguarding Indonesia’s diverse heritage. It is a nonprofit organization comprised of heritage practitioners and advocates who share the common goal of safeguarding the sustainability of Indonesia’s natural, cultural, as well as landscape."

The Chopi timbila was proclaimed as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2005. This international recognition is a source of great pride in Mozambique, for the state and the timbileiros (timbila practitioners). In the application produced by the Mozambican government and sent to UNESCO, the cultural expression was described as follows: Timbila means not only the ensemble of instruments but also the music played by those instruments and the accompanying dance. The timbila orchestras, together with the dance associated with them, are known as migodo (plural of n'godo) and represent the ‘classical’ music of the Chopi. The orchestras consist of five up to thirty timbila of varying sizes and ranges of pitch, but the usual size of an orchestra consists of around twelve timbila, carefully constructed in five sizes and tuned to cover a range of four octaves (República de Moçambique 2004, 5).

This networking program is based on experiences and achievements obtained from the collaborative work of UNESCO-ICHCAP in the living heritage field in Central Asia over the last decade.\n\nFor reference, the networking program comes on the heels of a three-party MoU signed by ICHCAP and organizations in Uzbekistan in 2019 and was followed by a Central Asia network meeting in Kazakhstan in 2019. In 2020, ICHCAP in cooperation with International Institute for Central Asian Studies (IICAS), conducted a survey project about ICH festivals along the Silk Roads, particularly with countries along the steppe route. Regarding the survey result, ICHCAP, IICAS and Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum Secretariat of the Korea Foundation (KF) held an online webinar and a strategic meeting to consider the need for realizing the multilateral values of Silk Roads-related cooperation