Resumen:

To be implemented by the UNESCO Office for Iraq, in close coordination with the Music Arts Directorate of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities, this eighteen-month community-based project aims to safeguard the craftsmanship and performance skills related to Santur, a traditional plucked string instrument, whose viability has been increasingly threatened by successive conflicts, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the advanced age of bearers, and the weakening of intergenerational transmission. The Santur instrument is associated with the art of Iraqi maqam, an element inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008. In addition to training, documentation and inventorying activities, the project entails creating and equipping a Santur-making workshop to support subsequent transmission and safeguarding activities. To ensure its long-term sustainability, the project will develop a digital archive as well as a structured training curriculum for educational and cultural institutions. Activities will be primarily implemented in Baghdad, while actively engaging practitioners and trainees from other governorates. The project will focus on enhancing visibility, strengthening community identity, and encouraging youth engagement, through public awareness-raising activities, media outreach and a national Santur festival. By establishing a sustainable system for training and knowledge transmission, this project is expected to offer a technical guide that other institutions and communities can adopt to implement similar initiatives.