Supported by the Ministry of Culture and Information of Serbia and the Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage of Serbia (Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade), the Association of Serbian Folklorists (ASF) is carrying out the project entitled Together in Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage: Raising Local Communities’ Capacities, whose coordinators are Smiljana Djordjević Belić, PhD, and Danka Lajić Mihajlović, PhD.

The idea for this Project stemmed from the insight of the ASF members belonging to the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) network that it is necessary to raise awareness about the importance of ICH and to improve the competences for acting in this sphere in local communities—from professionals employed in cultural institutions, to NGO employees, to young researchers and PhD students from the relevant fields. The experience of working on the ICH safeguarding in Serbia has emphasized the necessity for establishing a wider network of collaborators, in particular in the sense of decentralization. It entails instructing the current and future culture experts coming from various environments about UNESCO’s ICH concept, the application of the Convention in Serbia, the procedures of ICH elements recognition and noting down, as well as the creation and implementation of safeguarding plans with regard to sustainable development principles.

The Project is envisaged as a realization of an educational program. The Program consists of lectures which should give a general introduction into the ICH safeguarding, the UNESCO Convention, and the system of its application in Serbia. According to the main focus of interest of the ICH experts from the ASF, attention is primarily directed at the elements related to the language, verbal folklore, and performance arts. The lecturers are experienced collaborators from the Center for ICH, scholars, and experts competent for various aspects and the aforementioned domains of the ICH: Biljana Sikimić, PhD, ethnolinguistics scholar, Principal Research Fellow, Institute for Balkan Studies SASA; Smiljana Djordjević Belić, PhD, Senior Research Associate, Institute for Literature and Art; Danka Lajić Mihajlović, PhD, ethnomusicologist, Principal Research Fellow, Institute of Musicology SASA; Zdravko Ranisavljević, PhD, ethnocoreology scholar, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Music in Belgrade; Danijela Filipović, ethnologist and anthropologist, Senior Curator, coordinator of the Center for the ICH of Serbia at the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade. The Program is dovetailed with the UNESCO recommendations regarding capacity building, as well as the policies and practices of working on ICH safeguarding in Serbia.

The educational program takes place at the Scientific, Educational, and Cultural Center “Vuk Karadžić” in Tršić, November 17–19, 2023.