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.\nThe Heritage Hub is a center for the practice, research, and development of Cambodia’s intangible cultural heritage (ICH). It works together with all our other programs to ensure there is always a dimension related to ICH. Its aim is to support the continuity of Cambodia’s artistic and cultural heritage, a theme that cuts across all of our work. The Heritage Hub is based in Siem Reap because of the area’s rich history of artistry and the depth of knowledge held by the many traditional musicians and cultural experts living in the province. Siem Reap is well-known as a city of immense tangible heritage because of Angkor Wat, but its intangible heritage is sometimes forgotten.

The Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (Bangladesh Academy of Fine and Performing Arts) is the apex institution in the field of culture. Located in the heart of the capital city Dhaka and overlooking the historic Ramana Park, an oasis to the bustling city of nearly fifteen million people, the academy is a huge complex of three magnificent buildings that bear the hallmarks of modern architectural beauty.\nThe Academy is a statutory body under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. It was established in 1974, under the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Act. Its main objective is to safeguard and foster national cultures as well as intangible cultural heritage in Bangladesh. The duties and responsibilities of the academy include promoting arts and national culture as well as creating necessary facilities for their development. The activities of the academy also include organizing workshops, seminars, discussion meetings, short-term specialized training sessions; providing scholarships and financial grants for talented artists; and organizing competitions in the various fields of fine and performing arts, and it regularly holds the Asian Biennial Art Exhibition. Recently it has completed a project in cooperation with UNESCO Dhaka for safeguarding Baul Songs, the only intangible cultural heritage element of Bangladesh on the Representative List. The academy is the premier venue for the expression of traditional and contemporary arts and culture of the people of Bangladesh, and it is planning to extend its collaborative activities internationally, especially through the Asia-Pacific region.

The Institute of Language and Literature (ILL) at the Mongolian Academy of Sciences is a scientific organization that manages academic researches on philology, literature, and folklore in Mongolia. The ILL was founded as the Institute of Sutra and Script in 1921. The name subsequently institute changed to the Cabinet of Philology in 1930, to the Centre for the Study of Philology and Literature in 1957, and finally to the Institute of Language and Literature in 1961 when the Mongolian Academy of Sciences was established. nSince 1962, the ILL at the Mongolian Academy of Sciences has been implementing fieldwork on folk heritage and local dialects one to three times per year. Sometimes folk tellers and singers have been invited to make audio and video recordings. As a result of these activities, the ILL has built a treasury of audio recordings and manuscripts of Mongolian cultural heritage. For instance, this treasury contains tales, heroic epics, long and short songs, and wise and metaphoric words. Also our researchers have recorded ethnic legends and stories about rituals and customs and festivals. About 1100 hours of audio recordings have been preserved in this fund. We are also preserving 451 units of handwritten books and manuscripts.

The Tharu Cultural Museum and Research Center is founded on the idea of preservation and promotion of indigenous cultural heritage, particularly that of the Tharu as one of Nepal’s largest and most marginalized ethnic groups. The organization is working on the preservation of Tharu culture and arts and community development through museum collections. In addition, they are conducting research on Tharu tradition, literature, arts, legendary stories, songs, festivals, rituals, as well as their indigenous knowledge, technology, and skills.

The Bhabanagara Foundation aims at articulating age-old multidimensional language, literature, education procedure, and cultural performances locally and globally. Committed to revitalization of cultural origins, they conduct events and workshops for the safeguarding of Bengali intangible cultural heritage (ICH) such as Charya Songs. In addition to their Weekly Sadhusanga (discussion and performance on Wednesday afternoon) for the youth, scholars, and practitioners, they publish Bhābanagara: International Journal of Bengali Studies. The foundation has translated and published the Convention for the Safeguarding of the ICH. They hold an inventory of four thousand Bangladeshi living Folk Artists and Artisans.

Bangladesh Institute of Theatre Arts (BITA) is a Non Government Organisation established in 2004. The oraganisation works in the sector of performing arts, crafts and oral tradition for safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). Performing arts (like theatre, Kabi Gaan, folk songs etc.) is the specialization area where the organisation works closely using diverse modalities with engagement of grassroots artists from rural and urban area entangling multiple ingredients of cultural heritage like use of traditional musical instruments, folk cultural forms. The organisation has been working with multiple communities which are mainly derived from disadvantaged and neglected section of the society including fisher folk, ethnic minorities, peasants, blacksmiths, grassroots artisans, slum dwellers, children, youth adolescents, women etc from Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Lakshmipur, Noakhali, Feni and Bandarban Hill District. The extensive use of performing arts have been playing significant role reviving and promoting the cultural heritage from one generation to another in order to expedite human rights promotion, social harmony and sustainable development. The ICH safeguarding activities that they undertake are: skill development- technical improvement, knowledge sharing, workshop activities, use of folk elements, etc. They have initiated cultural exchange and are working within and outside the country. BITA also has documentation and publication both in the form of audio and books. As an organisation, BITA has been successful in engaging youth to take part in ICH practices and activities related to safeguarding and promotion activities of ICH as livelihood options.

In the 1960s, Late Komal Kothari ,a renowed folklorist and ethnomusicologist and his very close friend, Vijaydan Detha an eminent Rajasthani writer realized that the problem of language covered the whole way of life of people and soon set out on a goal which became larger than collecting tales and songs. They further expanded their archival and research work in the field of folklore encompassing folk songs, folk tales, folk beliefs, proverbs, folk ballads, folk epics of long plays, folk gods and goddesses, social practices, rituals, fairs and festivals, rural food, nomads and pastoral ways of life. Until 1990’s they travelled more than 29000 villages to collect the large repository of cultural heritage both intangible (oral) in the form of audio video and tangible object’s of daily life made from natural resources. During 30years of intense study by them on folklore (in ethno-geographic regions) they finally looked into the traditional ways of knowledge transmission where the practice is to “learn but not to teach” in a structured way. In the year 1995 Komal Kothari got the recognition of his work by the Government of India and has been awarded Padma-Shree in 1983 and Padma Bhusan in 2004.

The National Institute of Folk & Traditional Heritage, popularly known as Lok Virsa, was established by the government of Pakistan in 1974 with a mandate to collect, document, preserve, and disseminate Pakistan’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Within three decades, Lok Virsa has grown from a fledgling endeavor, to creating a science of folklore into a developmental complex whose projects and activities span over the roots of the entire nation. nThe Research Centre of Lok Virsa encourages research in regional languages, folk literature, cultural history, arts, crafts and various aspects of folklore such as folk songs, seasonal songs, work songs, folk romances, folk tales, children games, legends, nursery rhymes, children tales, animal fables and legends attached to mountains, lakes, rivers, ruined castled, traditional festivals, superstitions and beliefs, customs and rituals, celebrations at birth, weddings and funerals among others.\nLok Virsa calls upon all master artisans, folk musicians, folk dancers and performers from the rural areas and remote regions of the country at the Artisans-at-work festival, popularly known as Lok Mela, each year. Over 100,000 eager participants come to visit this festival. Lok Virsa supports craftsmen and musicians by giving cash awards and proud recognition to them as living national treasures.