44TH INTERNATIONAL FOLKLORE FESTIVAL

21 – 25 July, 2010

44th International Folklore Festival is dedicated to worldwide activities in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage conducted in all member states of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). All Festival participants are representatives of intangible cultural heritage enlisted in national inventories, and some also in the UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Croatia’s national inventory currently holds 77 cultural assets, seven of which have been included on UNESCO’s Representative List. This makes Croatia the top country in Europe, and one of the leading countries worldwide in terms of enlistments (surpassed only by China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea). The selection of this year’s Festival theme was partly based on the fact that this is the International Year of the Rapprochement of Cultures. The Festival is organized in cooperation with the Croatian Ministry of Culture’s Department for Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Croatian UNESCO Committee. Croatian Parliament is the traditional sponsor of the event, but is this year joined by UNESCO.

The International Folklore Festival is one of the top events of folklore expressions in Croatia, namely an event representing amateur folklore groups dedicated to preserving and presenting local heritage. The event has been taking place in Zagreb since 1966, continuing the tradition of the Festival of Croatian Village Culture that was organized in the 1930s. The International Folklore Festival aims to present and promote traditional values of all nations and cultures, contributing to the efforts of preserving cultural diversities in the globalized world. The program is drawn up by experts, ethnologists and folklorists who also collaborate with the Ministry of Culture on recognizing and documenting intangible cultural heritage phenomena. Ethnologists and folklorists are in constant contact with contemporary life of the phenomena and their bearers, trying to safeguard Croatian traditional culture as heritage. Zagreb Concert Management, as the traditional organizer of the Festival, has been contributing to the efforts of presenting and ensuring the affirmation of heritage and of promoting the idea of cultural diversity as one of the general human values.

Zorica Vitez, PhD