Live broadcast: This week the Aigine CRC was featured in a live broadcast at the invitation of Community Media (Jamaattik Media). The discussion focused on Aigine’s project, “Safeguarding of Practices and Rare Rituals Related to the Sacred Sites in Kyrgyzstan:Preparation of Inventory and Safeguarding Measures” which was recently selected by UNESCO’s newly launched “Best Practices” platform as an exemplary initiative in community engagement and cultural heritage preservation. During the broadcast, the team shared insights into how sacred site research is conducted, effective methods of working with local communities, challenges in safeguarding sacred places, and broader strategies for preserving intangible cultural heritage.

A Unified Petroglyph Database for Central Asia is Being Created: The Aigine Cultural Research Center proceed working on a unified database of Central Asian petroglyphs within the framework of the project “Safeguarding Traditional Art through Creating a Unified Interactive Platform for Central Asian Petroglyphs.” Currently, the team is collecting data on petroglyph sites across the five Central Asian countries – Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, and is developing an interactive website where photos, descriptions, videos, and research will be publicly accessible.

Women’s Blessings: A group of young artists, led by Aliya Alisherova, continues their creative work on illustrations and scenes for an upcoming animation dedicated to women’s blessings. At this stage, the team has begun coloring the completed illustrations. Earlier, craftswoman Gulmira Kutueva designed unique ornamental patterns that encode blessing texts (bata) collected from women across the country and addressed to other women. These texts were then transformed into literary form through the editorial and poetic work of Kyyal Tazhiyeva. The blessings are aimed at supporting women’s freedom of expression, the right to education, and the opportunity to choose “non-traditional” professions and paths. In parallel, the artists are shaping the storyline of the future animated film.