Safeguarding Endangered Oral Traditions and Minority Heritages in Syria

With prior funding from the Cultural Protection Fund from 2022 to 2025, this project safeguarded a wide range of Syrian intangible heritage. This included oral traditions, folk stories, and proverbs that are central to communities' identity, shared through podcasts and web series focused on mythological storytelling. Alongside this, there were capacity building activities in heritage safeguarding that empowered local organisations, trained young people in the traditional craft of woodblock printing, and supported sustainable livelihoods. 

In this current 2024-25 phase of project delivery:

• Stories of the intangible cultural heritage of communities in northeastern Syria (including Arab, Kurdish, Yazidi, Assyrian, and Armenian Syrians), will be shared more widely with a focus on the risks posed by climate change.
• Community dialogues and artistic activities for 1000 participants will explore threats to their cultural heritage and the role heritage plays in promoting diversity. 
• Heritage documented in the previous phase will be presented through four forums in Syrian cities and one in London.
• The organisational mentoring programme will be expanded to include five institutions and programme partners in Damascus, Hama, Suwayda, and Raqqa to help develop expertise and deliver training in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.
• Training will be provided to forty local community members over three months in heritage financing and management planning, with the aim of improving employment prospects.