For the second time, the Finnish Folk Music Institute is organising the international Kaustinen ICH (Intangible Cultural Heritage) Academy lecture and seminar programme in connection with the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival, including the fifth Kaustinen ICH Seminar. Speakers will come from a total of fourteen countries in Europe and beyond.
The Kaustinen ICH Academy programme is aimed at Finnish and international students, researchers and other professionals in the field of folk music and cultural heritage, as well as everyone interested in the subject. Daily lectures from Tuesday to Friday at 2–4.30 p.m. will present the perspectives of Finnish and international experts and researchers on safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. At the end of each day, participants will be introduced to different perspectives on Kaustinen fiddle playing, which was inscribed to UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2021.
The Kaustinen ICH Academy is organised in collaboration with the University of the Arts Helsinki and Centria University of Applied Sciences. The programme is in English.
Unless otherwise stated, all lectures and seminars will be held in the Museum Hall of the Folk Art Centre. All lectures and seminars are free of charge and open to everyone and do not require paying entry to the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival (with the exception of A-M Kivimäki's lecture on 9 July).
KAUSTINEN ICH ACADEMY
Tue 8 July
14.00 Emmi Kujanpää: Transnational European Contemporary Folk Singing: Activist Agency and Experiences of Gender
14.30 Ľubica Voľanská: Living Traditions in Slovakia: impact of UNESCO Convention 2003 on the safeguarding
15.00 Nadja Räss: Yodeling from Switzerland – The UNESCO nomination process
15.45 Jurgita Zvinklyte and Matti Palonen: Sutartine – Lithuanian ICH and its challenges adapting to contemporary music
16.15 Antti Kautonen: Kaustinen fiddle playing & migration
16:30 Tour of the Finnish Folk Instrument Museum exhibition "Kaustinen Fiddle Playing - A Living Heritage"
Wed 9 July
11.30–13.30 the seminar ICH North – passing on our musical heritage
The seminar will review the activities and results of the three-year Nordic Interreg project. How is musical heritage passed on from one generation to the next today, how can archival work be carried out in a community-based manner, and could polska be a joint Nordic candidate for inclusion in UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage?
LECTURES
14.00 Le Diable à Cinq band members Safeguarding traditional music of Quebec
14.30 Pushpa Palanchoke: When Preservation Silences: The Heritization of a Women’s Musical Tradition in Nepal
15.00 Vilma Timonen: Folk Music Professionals as Boundary Workers: Mapping the Tensions and Opportunities in Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage through Professional Practice
15.45 Divya Bathia: Safeguarding the traditional music of Rajasthan through Jodhpur RIFF festival
16.15 Anne-Mari Hakamäki: Kaustinen Fiddle Playing and Kaustinen Folk Music Festival
16:30 Tour of the Finnish Folk Instrument Museum exhibition "Kaustinen Fiddle Playing - A Living Heritage"
Thu 10 July
11.30–13.30 the seminar Cultural Spaces: Digital Innovations & safeguarding ICH
At the Digit ICH Erasmus+ project seminar, representatives of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage sites from Croatia, Georgia, Slovakia, Latvia and other countries will talk about their traditions, practices for safeguarding them and related digital innovations.
LECTURES
14.00 Annukka Saaristo: Tradition, heritage, legacy: Case study on intergenerationality in Finnish rap music
14.30 Elina Seye: The Communities of West African Dance and Music in Finland
15.00 Antti-Ville Villén: Policing musical creativity, diversity and inclusivity – in the name of heritage
15.45 Heidi Henriikka Mäkelä, Outi Valo and Hannu Linkola: The Pelimanni House in Kaustinen: A Contradictory Stage of Intangible Cultural Heritage
16.15 Lauri Oino: Kaustinen Fiddle Playing Safeguarding Program
16:30 Tour of the Finnish Folk Instrument Museum exhibition "Kaustinen Fiddle Playing - A Living Heritage"
Fri 11 July
14.00 Giacomo Botta: Competing Sounds: The Multi-Layering of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) at the Kaustinen Folk Festival
14.30 Paulo Longo: UNESCO Creative City Idanha-A-Nova – Experiences from Portugal
15.00 Velika Stojkova Serafimovska: Safeguarding the Macedonian traditional music as an ICH
15.45 Farshad Sanati: Music as a Bridge: Fostering Cultural Flexibility Through Transcultural Music Education
16.15 Anni Järvelä: Näppäri pedagogy as a bridge to folk music
16:30 Tour of the Finnish Folk Instrument Museum exhibition "Kaustinen Fiddle Playing - A Living Heritage"
Sat 12 July
11.00–13.30 Kaustinen hall, Folk Arts Centre Kaustinen Intangible Cultural Heritage Seminar 2025: Music on the Move – Migration, Resilience and Identity
The seminar will focus on the festival's theme of migration, particularly from the perspective of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. What is the significance of music and musical heritage when people move from one place to another? The speakers and panellists will be the scholars Ľubica Voľanská ja Saijaleena Rantanen sekä muusikot Karri “Paleface” Miettinen, Michal Elia Kamal, John Westmoreland and Mika ”Miša” Saatsi.Musical interludes are offered, among others, by Kaustisen Näppärit.. The seminar will be streamed at Finnish Folk Music Institute Youtube channel.
OTHER SEMINARS AND LECTURES (in Finnish)
Tue 8 July
11.30–13.30 VISIO2030-seminaari
This seminar, which brings together folk music and folk dance practitioners, will continue the strategic planning for the new five-year period in the field. Funding for organisations in the field has faced drastic cuts. How should practitioners respond to the situation? The seminar is organised by the Finnish Folk Music and Dance Association and Finnish Folk Music Institute.
Wed 9 July
9.00–10.00 Kansanmusiikkipedagoginen seminaari
This meeting for folk music teachers will explore pedagogical issues related to the field through presentations and discussion.
11.45–12.30 Pelimannitalo big room Anne-Mari Kivimäki: musical lecture Kotiin – muistoja ja lauluja
The composer and researcher-musician plays soulful melodies from Karelian dance evenings and talks about her book Kotiin – muistoja ja lauluja The lecture is held on the paid festival area.
Fri 11 July
11.30–13.30 Aineeton kulttuuriperintö – suojelukäytänteet ja aineettoman kulttuuriperinnön kenttä Suomessa
Organised in collaboration with the Finnish Intangible Cultural Heritage Association, this seminar will address common challenges and opportunities in the field, as well as its organisation and strategy. The seminar will feature presentations from the perspective of organisations accredited to provide advisory services to the Unesco ICH Convention Committee, as well as experiences from UNESCO-listed sites. Finland's potential future UNESCO sites will also be discussed and mapped out.
Sat 12 July
17.00–18.00 On lähdetty ja palattu – Keski-Pohjanmaan Kulttuuriliitto ry:n seminaari
The Central Ostrobothnia Cultural Association presents its multi-year regional migration data collection project, which covers the historical Central Ostrobothnia region. The seminar will continue the themes of the day's festival seminar – migration experiences, migration, resilience and identity – focusing on them from a historical perspective and concentrating on the region.