• Holiday meetings: On March 7, the Aigine CRC team received special guests in the office. The office was visited by the partners of the radio program “Asyl Zhan”, representatives of “Public Radio” Nazira Zhusupova and Aigerim Kubatbekova, as well as guests of the broadcast who shared their personal experience Sanji Tuytunova, Munduz Asanaliev, Nuriz Chyntemirov. During the meeting, topical issues related to the problem of violence were raised and the question of how to help reduce these problems was discussed. Sharing personal unpleasant experiences is an innovative phenomenon for Kyrgyz traditional culture and, as a consequence, attracts a lot of criticism. Nevertheless, the Kyrgyz believe that “if you hide a disease, death will expose it”. The Aigine CRC team believes that it is time for the traditional community to pay attention to this problem, to express support and protection for women facing violence.
• Cultural Forum in Abu Dhabi: From March 3 to 5, 2024, Aigine CRC Director Gulnara Aitpaeva took part in a cultural forum held in the United Arab Emirates. This year’s forum centered on the theme – Cultural Forum 2024: Issues of Time. On March 3, Gulnara Aitpaeva took part in the discussion “Preservation of cultural heritage: a path to which there is no end in sight”. The event gathered a large cultural international community in Abu Dhabi. More than 200 speakers were invited and more than a thousand people participated, including government officials, from former and current heads of government to heads of cultural organizations. Non-governmental organizations were also actively involved in the forum, and prominent artists, writers and academics were among the participants.
• Planning Committee: On March 7, Aiza Abdyrakhmanova, Project Coordinator of the Aigine CRC, participated in the online meeting of the Planning Committee for the project “Establishment of an Asia-Pacific Regional Research Center for Safeguarding ICH”, which is implemented by the International Research Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage in Asia and the Pacific (IRCI). The project plans to establish and organize an “Asia-Pacific ICH Research Forum”. The committee includes researchers from the Asia-Pacific region. During the meeting, the dates, timing of the first research forum as well as its topics and contents were discussed. The aim of this project is to further promote ICH conservation research and strengthen the network of ICH researchers.