Dr. Ming Chee Ang is a general Manager of George Town World Heritage Incorporated and a Facilitator of UNESCO Global Network of Facilitators on Intangible Cultural Heritage. Born and raised in the inner city of George Town, she carries her duties with much passion and fervour, incorporating innovative ideas and holistic management on World Heritage Site for the benefit of the local people. Specialized in resource mobilization, policy making, project management and risk assessment, she has incorporated built conservation, with elements of disaster risk reduction and intangible cultural heritage safeguarding to create a sustainable heritage city for the people who live in, work in and use George Town. Ang also showcases active participation in leading projects, programs and panels, as Executive Producer for George Town Heritage Celebrations, Chairperson for Sia Boey Archaeological Advisory Panel, Chairperson for Penang Public Arts Review Panel, Deputy Chairperson for Penang Island City Council’s Technical Review Panel, Committee for Guar Gepah Archaeological Advisory Panel, lead researcher for “Field Survey of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Efforts in the Asia-Pacific Region” and “Feasibility Studies on the Introduction of Rent Regulation Enactment”, as well as project manager for “Sia Boey Integrated Management Plan” and “Supporting Community-Based Management and Sustainable Tourism at Melaka and George Town”

Aidai Asangulova is one of the famous craftswomen in Kyrgyzstan and the head of the “Kiyiz Duino” Public Foundation. \n\nThe goal of PF “Kiyiz Duino” is to revive and safeguard traditional knowledge and skills related to crafts and the cultural space around it. “Kiyiz Duino” aims to draw general public attention to Kyrgyz traditions and customs; show people how a person can coexist with the surrounding nature in harmony, use its gifts without causing it harm; explain how important it is to take care of nature and preserve its purity for future generations.\n\nThe Foundation holds various community-based events, such as workshops on making Kyrgyz traditional clothing, or festivals to popularize traditional rituals and practices from local to national levels. They also actively cooperate in the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage with governmental and nongovernmental institutions, participate in field trips, conduct research, and document ICH elements. \n\n“Kiyiz Duino” has contributed greatly to the preparation of nomination files as “Ak-kalpak craftsmanship, traditional knowledge and skills in making and wearing Kyrgyz men’s headwear” and “Elechek, Kyrgyz female headwear: traditional knowledge and rituals”.\n

Ms. Leena Marsio works in the Finnish Heritage Agency as a Senior Adviser. The Agency is a Governmental organisation with over 200 staff members, responsible for implementing the Government’s policies on heritage. Marsio has been coordinating the UNESCO Convention on the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Finland since 2014. She is also the National coordinator of European Heritage Label. She holds a Master’s degree in Arts management from the Sibelius Academy and a BA from the University of Helsinki in Arts research. Before working for the Government, she worked ten years as a free-lance researcher and producer in several organizations in the field of arts and culture both in Governmental level, NGOs and companies. As a researcher her interests have been in cultural diversity, cultural rights and arts education. Marsio has worked as a producer in arts and development projects in Finland, in the Balkan region and in South Africa.

Aida Alymova is an anthropologist and a director of the Public Foundation "Consortium of Museums". She has a Ph.D. in History and her research topic was about the life and culture of the peoples of Central Asia in the late XIX - early XX centuries. For her work on the development and popularization of museums in Kyrgyzstan, she was elected as president of the National Committee of ICOM in Kyrgyzstan in 2019. Aida Alymova is also awarded a diploma from the Ministry of Culture of the Kyrgyz Republic for outstanding achievements in the field of culture. She also acts as a Museum expert at the Turkic Academy based in Nursultan, Kazakhstan.\n\nCurrently, as a director of the Consortium of Museums, she promotes museum development activities, with an aim to ensure the social purpose of museums as institutions for cultural, educational, and scientific functions. She coordinates and implements museum activities to solve professional and social issues and problems in the museums of the Kyrgyz Republic.

The Yap State Historic Preservation Office (YSHPO), located in Yap State in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), operates under the Department of Youth and Civic Affairs of the Yap State Government and has a regular budget funded by the local government and the National Park Service (NPS) and the United States Department of the Interior (DOI). YSHPO also receives occasional funding assistance for projects, technical or capacity building, and training and workshops from esteemed regional and international organizations—such as UNESCO, ICHCAP, and CRIHAP—and various national governments, including those of Australia, France, United States, and the FSM. YSHPO also collaborates and networks with other regional organizations, universities, and other bodies. To name a few, they include the University of Oregon, the University of Guam, Queens College, La Trobe, and others by conducting field schools in Yap during academic breaks.\nYSHPO has five main functions: 1) collecting Yapese written and oral history, 2) registering and surveying cultural and historical properties, 3) inventorying and mapping cultural and historical sites and properties, 4) restoring and rehabilitating cultural and historic properties, and 5) performing general YSHPO administration, including NPS/DOI Historic Preservation Fund (HPF). The organization also occasionally assists and supports the operation of the Yap State Living History Museum. Of some related projects, ICHCAP has funded three in Yap: 1) Youth Meets ICH with OurYAP, an umbrella youth organization for all the youth clubs, including high school children in Yap State, 2) the Preliminary Survey on Dormant ICH Data in the Pacific with a mixture of project workers from the Waab Cultural Heritage Society (elders) and some young people along with YSHPO staff, and 3) the 2017 ICHCAP-YSHPO Joint Cooperation Project for Safeguarding Intangible Heritage by Digitizing ICH-Related Analogue Data of the FSM, which is still ongoing.

Pishin-Pajouh Cultural and Art Institute was established in 1997 by a group of archaeologists who were granted the needed certificates by the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. As its objective, the Institute seeks to promote studies on Iran, especially from archaeological and anthropological viewpoints. The institute enjoys its position as being among the first NGOs of its type. It was established at a time when Iranian cultural heritage authorities were gradually starting cooperation with the private sector.\nPishin Pajouh participated in this exhibition following an invitation by Dr. Yadollah Parmoun, Director of the Linguistic Atlas of Iran National Project and the Director of the Tehran ICH Centre. At the event, Pishin Pajouh presented the Linguistic Atlas of Iran as well as other achievements of the country in the field of intangible cultural heritage, including its inscriptions on UNESCO Lists.

\nThe Persian Garden Institute for Living Heritage (PGILH) is a non-governmental body which has as its primary purpose to contribute to the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in Iran and Western and Central Asia and to the implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (UNESCO, 2003) both at the national and international levels. It aims to achieve this through research activities and projects, inventorying and documentation projects, capacity-building (in Iran and the region), developing files for international inscription, promotional activities, heritage needs assessment (tangible and intangible), providing stewardship services for museums and memory institutions, researching and promoting handicrafts, developing culturally-appropriate and sustainable tourism, translating, and publishing specialized texts, providing legal and policy consultation services, and providing other expert services in the field of cultural heritage.

The Center for Research and Promotion of Cultural Heritage (CCH), an affiliate institution of thenCultural Heritage Association of Việt Nam, a non-governmental organization (NGO) accredited bynUNESCO in 2011, has been officially operating since 2010. In pursuance of study objectives basednon the community within the framework of the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the safeguarding ofnthe intangible cultural heritage, CCH has carried out dozens of ICH projects and study themes fornthe past 8 years. One of the principles of CCH is to be chiefly connected to the study of communities. This has helpednin bringing about good achievements and sustainable development in study projects of CCH.\nLeaders of the Center are specialists in the field of intangible cultural heritage involving in thenimplementation of the 2003 Convention for the past 15 years. The number of projects and programsnimplemented by CCH each year constantly increased with new ones. CCH has become a truly usefulnbridge, linking state management bodies with communities; an organization that always assistncommunities in the safeguarding and promotion of their intangible cultural heritage. CCH isncurrently the leading organization under the Vietnam Association for Cultural Heritage in thensafeguarding of intangible cultural heritage. It has closely collaborated with a wide range ofnorganizations and institutions, especially local communities, in safeguarding projects that involveninventorying, heritage education, preparation of nominations, and exhibition.