Keeping Culture Alive: UNESCO Brings Central Asian Museums Together

The workshop closed with participants identifying small, realistic actions they could take within their own museums, guided by existing resources and institutional circumstances.

A museum's connection to heritage reaches beyond the objects it holds, extending to the people whose knowledge, skills and traditions give those collections meaning. That relationship shaped a three-day UNESCO workshop for museum professionals across Central Asia, where participants explored how their everyday work can support cultural practices that communities continue to share and pass on to younger generations.

Held from 8 to 10 September 2026, the workshop, 'Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage through Museums in Central Asia,' was organised by the UNESCO Regional Office in Almaty with support from the International Training Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (CRIHAP). Participants exchanged experiences, examined international frameworks and developed practical proposals for bringing living heritage into museum activities.

Putting People at the Heart of Heritage

The opening day introduced the principles of UNESCO's 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, with discussions exploring what safeguarding means for traditions that depend on continued practice and transmission. Participants examined the language of intangible and living heritage, giving particular attention to communities, groups and individuals, the conditions that keep cultural practices viable, and the sharing of knowledge across generations.

Comparisons between UNESCO's 1972, 2003 and 2005 Conventions helped participants understand the different frameworks that shape heritage protection and cultural policy. Sessions examined the responsibilities of communities, States, museums and non-governmental organisations under the 2003 Convention, alongside recent developments involving MONDIACULT and the International Council of Museums (ICOM), and the professional skills museum staff increasingly need.

Respecting the People Behind Cultural Knowledge

Questions about rights and responsibility took centre stage on the second day, as participants considered how museums should approach the knowledge and practices they research, record and present. Discussions covered intellectual property and cultural authority, drawing attention to the decisions involved in documenting living heritage, digitising material, interpreting cultural practices and sharing information with wider audiences.

These questions connect directly to the relationship between museums and the people whose heritage they represent, making community rights a practical concern across museum activities. Participants explored seven safeguarding steps and their application to museum work, using the discussions to prepare for a hands-on exercise in developing programmes that could connect safeguarding principles with institutional practice.

Turning Workshop Lessons into Everyday Action

The final day allowed participants to work through those ideas in four groups, each developing a safeguarding programme around a core museum function: exhibitions, restoration and conservation, research, or inventorying and documentation. Presentations opened up discussion about the challenges and opportunities across these areas, giving professionals space to compare approaches and consider how living heritage could become part of work already taking place.

The workshop closed with participants identifying small, realistic actions they could take within their own museums, guided by existing resources and institutional circumstances. This focus made the next steps concrete, encouraging museum professionals to consider how routine choices about exhibitions, research and documentation can strengthen the safeguarding of living heritage and its connection to the communities who sustain it.