Year of creation: 2001
Domain(s):

- oral traditions and expressions
- performing arts
- social practices, rituals and festive events
- traditional craftsmanship

Safeguarding measures:

- identification, documentation, research (including inventory-making)
- preservation, protection
- promotion, enhancement
- transmission, (non-)formal education
- revitalization

Main countries where active:

Colombia, Jordan

Objectives:
The mission of A.R.T. is to develop self-sustaining programming for refugees to equip them with the tools to rebuild and preserve their communities. A.R.T. aims to create self-sustaining training and education programs to ensure the transmission of cultural practices from one generation to the next, anchoring in a sense of generational continuity in the midst of changing and charged geographical borders.
Activities:
Art for Refugees in Transition (A.R.T.) is an international non-government, non-profit organization that promotes the preservation of indigenous art forms and cultural practices for displaced communities. A.R.T. recognizes the importance of cultural preservation and alliances with these groups to develop curricula to “re-establish the intergenerational relationships rooted in their own culture.”
Cooperation:
Each of A.R.T.’s programs have involved buy-in and collaboration with local stakeholders, as the organization believes that locals are the experts. Empowerment should be promoted to facilitate sustainability and autonomy.

Year of creation: 1968
Domain(s):

- performing arts
- social practices, rituals and festive events

Safeguarding measures:

- identification, documentation, research (including inventory-making)
- preservation, protection
- promotion, enhancement
- transmission, (non-)formal education
- revitalization
- Publications: audio & vidao recordings, written publications

Objectives:
Founded in 1968, the Center for Traditional Music and Dance, one of the US'premier traditional arts organizations, is dedicated to maintaing the vibrancy of the performing arts traditions of ethnic and imigrant communities through grass-roots community organizing, research-based educational programming and public performances.
Activities:
Since its founding in 1968, CTMD has produced over 900 major presentations including concerts, festivals, tours, CD and fim series, and lectures. Materials gathered by CTMD staff, folklorists, ethnomusicologists and community cultural sepcialists are the basis for subsequent articistic presentations and educational programming. CTMD-produced recordings, publications, and documentary films preserve and document cultural traditions and educate the public about the rich artistic heritage of New York's diverse immigrant/ethnic communities. Annually serving more than 100,000 artists, immigrant/ethnic community, and general audience members, CTMD's programs have a positive impact to ensure that the artistic traditions, which define a commuity, continue to exist and have contemporary meaning for successive generations. Activities include:

- Community Cultural Initiatives - multi-year field research and presentation projects which help community and cultural activists, artists and educators within targeted immigrant/ethnic communities to preserve their cultural traditions;

- An-Sky Institute for Jewish Culture -a partnership with New York University, the JCC in Manhattan, the Workmen's Circle and the Center for Jewish History to research and revitalize the practice of traditional East European Jewish performing arts;

- Masters on Stage -ongoing partnerships with major intitutions (i.e., Linclon Center, New York Historical Society, American Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian Institution) that are designed to introduce leading practitioners of New York's rich immigrant expressive traditions to wider audiences;

- New York World Festival -a biannual event devoted each time to a different region of the worls. Celebrating New York as the most culturally diverse city in the world, the festival acknowledges the vitality of immigrant and ethnic performing arts and their contributions to the New York City landscape;

- Touring Artists -a fee-based program designated to promote community -based artists and assit these artists access mainstream performance venues and media;

- Archives/Dissemination -over the past thirty-five years, through extensive fieldwork and research, the Center has assembled one of the largest collections of urban immigrant and ethnic music anywhere in America. The collection includes audio and video recordings, photographic documentation and related ephemera on CTMD's presentations and programs. Sound and video recordings are published through CTMS's Ethnic Heritage Recording Series and the Global Beat of the Boroughs series in partnership with Smithsonian Folkways. A monthly eNewsletter provides news, events and informatin about NY's traditional music and dance scene.

CTMD's programs and intiatives help build the cultural infrastructure within immigrant/ethnic communities by bolstering immigrant/etchnic artistic traditions within the communituy and introducing these time-honored and continually evolving traditions to larger, more diverse audiences.

Cooperation:
Through its innovative Community Cultural Initiatives (CCI) program, CTMD has worked in partnership with artists, educators and traditional arts advocates to conduct multi-year research, documentation and presentation programs in a number of New York City-based immigrant groups, including the Albanian, Arab, Dominican Irish, Indo-Caribbean, Central Asian, Chinese, Phillipino, Peruvian, Soviet Jewish, Ukrainian, Mexican and West African communities. While CCIs are deeply grassroots and NY-based, they produce ripples that can extend nationally and even internationally. In the 1970s, CTMD's project to document and present Jewish klezmer music helped spark a workd-wide revival. In the 1980s, CTMD helped form the renowned all-women's ensemble Cherish the Ladies which ispired huge interest amongs women across North America ane even Ireland in performing Irish music (previsously a male-dominated activity). In the 1990s, CTMD was the first organization to introduce Indian Bhangra music to the US. And, in the last five years, CCIs have generated the first Mariachi academy on the East Coast as well as the first Peruvian music and dance school for youth in the US.

Year of creation: 1972
Domain(s):

- oral traditions and expressions
- performing arts
- social practices, rituals and festive events
- knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe
- traditional craftsmanship

Safeguarding measures:

- identification, documentation, research (including inventory-making)
- preservation, protection
- promotion, enhancement
- transmission, (non-)formal education
- revitalization

Main countries where active:

Brazil, Canada, Guatemala, Mexico, Nepal, Nicaragua, Panama, South Africa

Objectives:
Cultural Survival is an Indigenous-led NGO and U.S. registered non-profit that advocates for Indigenous Peoples' rights and supports Indigenous communities’ self-determination, cultures, and political resilience, since 1972. For almost 50 years, Cultural Survival has partnered with Indigenous communities to advance Indigenous Peoples' rights and cultures worldwide. We envision a future that respects and honors Indigenous Peoples' inherent rights and dynamic cultures, deeply and richly interwoven in lands, languages, spiritual traditions, and artistic expression, rooted in self-determination and self-governance. The core of our efforts rest on the principles of supporting, amplifying efforts and raising awareness of self-determination for Indigenous communities. Cultural Survival has curated a robust network of partnerships with Indigenous communities spanning over 70 countries on 6 continents.
Activities:
Our work on the front lines of advocacy with international Indigenous communities is predicated on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and our programming works to inform Indigenous people of their rights, issues and threats affecting their communities. Cultural Survival believes that vibrant and durable communities rest on the principles of self-determination, human rights, informed citizenry and access to information, the freedom of expression, and the right to organize and shape the future in a way consistent with one’s tradition, language, culture and community – and we believe Indigenous Peoples have the power and solutions to solve many of today's problems when respected and empowered to do so.
Cooperation:
Cultural Survival works cooperatively with hundreds of Indigenous organizations across the globe in the countries we serve. We have MOUs with over 30 partner organizations and work informally with many others.

Year of creation: 1988
Domain(s):

- oral traditions and expressions
- performing arts
- social practices, rituals and festive events
- knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe
- traditional craftsmanship
- other
- traditional wayfinding and navigation

Safeguarding measures:

- identification, documentation, research (including inventory-making)
- preservation, protection
- transmission, (non-)formal education
- revitalization
- other
- publishing, museum displays and educational presentations

Main countries where active:

Solomon Islands

Year of creation: 1967
Domain(s):

- oral traditions and expressions
- performing arts
- social practices, rituals and festive events
- knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe
- traditional craftsmanship
- other
- foodways

Safeguarding measures:

- identification, documentation, research (including inventory-making)
- preservation, protection
- promotion, enhancement
- transmission, (non-)formal education
- revitalization
- other
- developing a research-based ecological approach to cultural sustainability

Main countries where active:

Armenia, Bhutan, China, Ecuador, Kenya, Mexico, Peru, Spain

Objectives:
As the largest museum, research, and education complex in the world, the Smithsonian Institution is well known for its collections of more than 154 million objects. The Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage is the institution's leading force for safeguarding the diversity of intangible cultural heritage. The current strategic plan of the center outlines three major objectives. Each objective is built on the foundation of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, an effort actively engage by the center by promoting greater understanding and sustainability of cultural heritage across the United States and around the world through research, education, and community engagement:
- Expand understanding of diverse living cultures
The center bridges research and practice; seeks to enrich knowledge of intangible cultural heritage, creativity, and diversity; and uses that knowledge to provide engaging, practical trainings for the next generation of intangible cultural heritage professionals. Our research efforts are paralleled by our commitment to strengthen the stewardship, accessibility, and impact of intangible cultural heritage collections.
- Invite public engagement in cultural practice and exchange
The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage uses multiple methods of public engagement - the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, and over 100 million annual visitors to our digital platforms – to spark discovery, support sharing, and deepen knowledge about intangible cultural heritage.
- Champion cultural vitality and sustainability.
The center promotes the widespread recognition of the value of traditions, supporting not only their preservation but also their long-term sustainability. Our ecological approach to cultural sustainability means that we work with communities to holistically assess the status of intangible cultural heritage and collaboratively develop trainings and other project-based activities to foster supportive conditions to sustain heritage in line with the community's own long-term vision.

Activities:
Each of the Center's core departments - the Folklife Festival, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, Cultural Sustainability Initiatives, Research and Education, and Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives – plays an important role in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.
Celebrating its fiftieth anniversary in 2017, the Center's Festival department produces the annual research-based Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Each year, the Festival brings more than 200 tradition bearers from the United States and around the world to share their music and dance, storytelling, craftsmanship, foodways, knowledge systems, and oral traditions with hundreds of thousands of visitors. The Festival plays an important role in the research, documentation, and promotion of intangible cultural heritage. For example, in 2013, the One World, Many Voices: Endangered Languages and Cultural Heritage program highlighted thirteen communities from around the world to share their efforts to revitalize and maintain their most important cultural practices.
As the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is dedicated to supporting cultural diversity and increased understanding among peoples through the documentation, preservation, and dissemination of sound. Folkways provides online access to tens of thousands of audio recordings and hundreds of video features from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives of the Center, as well as collections from partner archives including the International Library of African Music at Willard Rhodes University in South Africa, the Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology of the American Institute for Indian Studies in India, and the Aga Khan Music Initiative for Central Asia. In addition, the Center offers tools for teaching, in-depth feature articles, and individual subscriptions. The label provides unparalleled access to seldom heard voices of people from all over the world. In 2014, we also began to distribute the UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music. Folkways plays an important role in the documentation, research, preservation, promotion, transmission (through formal and non-formal education), and, at times, the revitalization of intangible cultural heritage.
Cultural Sustainability Initiatives is the newest department of the Center, building on a research-based ecological approach to cultural sustainability and working with communities to identify interventions to strengthen the sustainability of their traditions. In China, the work carried out by the Center with ethnic Tibetans supports language documentation and training, intangible cultural heritage documentation, and artisan craft documentation and development. In Armenia, the Center launched the first international fellows program at the Smithsonian, in partnership with the Armenian Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography. Using this ethnographic research as a foundation, the Center is piloting an innovative model of community-based tourism that keeps representation and revenues in the hands of communities and tradition bearers. Specific cultural sustainability initiatives are grounded in documentation and research, but they play an even more critical role in providing solutions for enhancement, transmission, and revitalization of intangible cultural heritage.
Finally, Research and Education and the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives are essential and fundamental components of the Center's work. In particular, the Rinzler Archives play a critical role in preservation of intangible cultural heritage. lt contains the Frances and Moses Asch Collection, recognized by UNESCO as Memory of the World in 2015.

Cooperation:
As outlined in the Convention for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, the Center maintains that communities should have the primary role in safeguarding their own intangible cultural heritage. The work carried out by the Center is rooted in the principle of cultural democracy - the exercise of the right of free expression by diverse individuals and communities as they document, preserve and share the cultural traditions that matter most to them. Most of the Center's research is community-driven, community-based, and relies on the collaborative participation of local stakeholders. Recognizing that cultural heritage should not be subject to external judgments of value or worth, this approach is vital to ensure that the community's culture is respected and the Center's values are upheld. The nature of this work requires that the Center staff members maintain strong, long-standing relationships with both individual tradition bearers and organizations around the world. This network enriches the Center's scholarship, programs, and projects.
Principles of community engagement and mutual respect are applied in each of the Center’s areas of work. The Festival programs are conceptualized in direct and mutual collaboration with participants – each program has a curator from the Center and a curator from the community. The Center engage directly with each tradition bearer participating in the Festival, working toward a shared vision for their experience, which includes not only providing a platform for their work but attention to critical details like lodging, transportation, meals, and adequate rest. The staffing swells to nearly 250 people during the Festival, including a team of participant coordinators, interns, and volunteers to ensure a positive and successful experience for participating tradition bearers.
For Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, artist rights and royalties are central. Folkways staff spend a significant amount of effort ensuring that artists are compensated fairly and in compliance with contracts. In 2016, we paid more than $600,000 in artist royalties.
Finally, Cultural Sustainability Initiatives are driven by community-identified objectives, and grounded in community-based research. Each activity has a local partner counterpoint and the Center focuses significant effort on providing broad and equitable access through the creation and distribution of local language materials.

Year of creation: 1981
Domain(s):

- oral traditions and expressions
- performing arts
- social practices, rituals and festive events

Safeguarding measures:

- identification, documentation, research (including inventory-making)
- preservation, protection
- promotion, enhancement
- transmission, (non-)formal education
- revitalization
- other
- Repatriation of ICH, training in archival practices and field research

Main countries where active:

Bahamas, China, Greece, Grenada, Haiti, Italy, Romania, Spain, Sudan, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland