Wednesday, 1st, October 2025

MONDIACULT 2025 OFFICIAL SIDE EVENT

ICOMOS SDG Working Group and the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

“Living Heritage / Living the Heritage: Community Voices for Rethinking Approaches and Shifting Systems”

ICOMOS SDG Working Group and the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
“The Living Heritage / Living the Heritage: Community Voices for Rethinking Approaches and Shifting Systems ”
We are pleased to announce that our side event, “The Living Heritage / Living the Heritage,” has been accepted for MONDIACULT 2025 in Barcelona. Launched by UNESCO in 1982, MONDIACULT has become the world’s largest cultural policy conference and a leading platform for global advocacy, dialogue, and collaboration. As the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda nears its conclusion, MONDIACULT 2025 is a pivotal moment to build consensus and accelerate momentum toward recognizing culture as a standalone goal in the next United Nations strategy for sustainable development.

Organized by ICOMOS (SDGs, Indigenous Heritage, OCD-RBA, and Climate Action Working Groups) and the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Organized in partnership with the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), this side event explores how living heritage, including crafts, oral traditions, and Indigenous knowledge systems, contributes to cultural continuity, resilience, and sustainability. From institutional perspectives on craft vitality to community-based approaches linking living and built heritage, the session highlights how heritage knowledge fuels adaptation, innovation, and intergenerational transmission.
This session will be a catalytic platform for dialogue, exchange, and reflection that leads to action. Through case studies and insights from heritage knowledge holders, specialists, and practitioners, we will propose actionable solutions that advance sustainability goals and demonstrate the vital role of heritage in shaping the future of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Where

SALA 120-121, BARCELONA INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTER (CCIB), BARCELONA, SPAIN

When

Wednesday, October 1st
01:30 PM – 02:30 PM (EUROPE/ZURICH)

The session will:

– Elevate living heritage and craft knowledge as central to resilient, equity, and sustainable futures..
– Recognize crafts as living knowledge systems that foster economic opportunity, social cohesion, and cultural continuity.
– Examine the societal and policy conditions that enable intergenerational knowledge transmission and heritage innovation.
– Show how living heritage shapes and is shaped by built environments, from historic cities to evolving cultural landscapes, supporting adaptation in times of crisis.
We invite policymakers, cultural leaders, funders, and practitioners to join us in consolidating a global coalition to recognize culture as a standalone goal in the post-2030 development agenda. Together, we can move from dialogue to delivery, advancing policies, investments, and partnerships that place culture at the heart of sustainable development.

We invite policymakers, cultural leaders, funders, and practitioners to join us, contribute concrete commitments, and help consolidate a global coalition to embed culture as a standalone goal in the post-2030 development agenda. Together, we can move from dialogue to delivery, advancing policies, investments, and partnerships that keep culture at the heart of sustainable development.

Our Speakers

Naima Benkari, PhD

Focal Point ICOMOS SDG WG (Session Moderator)

Angela López Sabater

ICOMOS Spain

Elena Dimitrova

Vice President of ICOMOS Bulgaria National Committee

Farah Abushullaih

Head of Museums at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra)

Preeti Gaonkar

Impact Lead, Ithra

Event Agenda

1. Opening Remarks – Recorded Statements
ICOMOS: Teresa Patricio, ICOMOS President, – On the role of living heritage in communities in crises and its connection to resilience and identity.
Ithra: On the role of crafts as living heritage, connecting generations, empowering communities, and contributing to cultural resilience and sustainability.

2. Visual Case Study Showcases
ICOMOS video: Community-based cultural heritage conservation from First Nations’ point of view, showing rights-based and participatory heritage approaches, and the intergenerational transmission of indigenous knowledge in fields of Climate adaptation, resilience, sustainable living…
Ithra video: Community-driven reinterpretation of palm weaving, illustrating innovation, intergenerational knowledge transmission, and the resilience of living heritage in contemporary Saudi culture.

3. Panel Discussion – Moderated by Naima Benkari- ICOMOS-SDGWG Focal point
Framing and Goals – Moderator
The session will open by framing living heritage as a dynamic force that contributes to resilience, identity, sustainability, and innovation in communities worldwide.

The discussion will bring together complementary perspectives:
ICOMOS brings forward its global mandate to protect both tangible and intangible heritage and show how built heritage (cities, cultural landscapes, architecture) is shaped by and reinforces living traditions.
Ithra contributes an institutional and policy perspective on crafts as living knowledge systems, drawing from its leadership in cultural programming, innovation, and community engagement to explore how crafts shape resilient and sustainable cultural futures.

Driving questions:
– How can living heritage, including craft knowledge systems, be recognized as central to cultural resilience and sustainable futures?
– How can partnerships, programs, and policies better enable transmission and innovation in heritage?
– What new frameworks are needed to integrate living heritage, including crafts and built heritage, in global development?
Each panellist will have up to 5 minutes to respond to guiding questions related to the intersection of heritage, sustainability, and community agency.

4. Panellists:
Farah Abushullaih Head of Museums at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra): On institutional and policy frameworks recognizing crafts as living knowledge systems sustained through intergenerational exchange, community engagement, and multi-stakeholder collaboration.
Preeti Gaonkar (Impact Lead, Ithra): On addressing societal factors and structural forces shaping craft vitality and advancing enabling environments that position crafts as drivers of resilience, inclusion, and sustainable development.
Angela Lopez Sabater (ICOMOS Spain): On the symbiosis of built heritage and living traditions in urban environments.
Elena Dimitrova (Vice President of ICOMOS Bulgaria National Committee):

5. Reflections and Takeaway Messages – Moderator (5 minutes)
After a short Q&A session with the audience, the session will end with a synthesis. A shared call to recognize culture as a stand-alone goal beyond 2030, grounded in the real-world practices, community agency, and heritage innovation showcased throughout the dialogue.

Supporting Committee members from ICOMOS SDG WG :

– Linda Shetabi, PhD (ICOMOS SDGWG UK)
– Karla Penna, PhD (ICOMOS SDGWG Australia)
– Valentina Cristini (ICOMOS SDGWG)
– Andris Kairiss (ICOMOS SDGWG)
– Xie Li (ICOMOS SDGWG China)
– Marianna Pereira (ICOMOS SDGWG + EPWG)
– Tomeu Deya (ICOMOS SDGWG)
– Laura Robinson (ICOMOS-OCD-RBA WG)
– Ave Paulus (ICOMOS-CAWG)

ICOMOS Communications Task Team:

– Farnaz Faraji

With the generous support from:
HKU MSc Conservation Programme: Master of Science in Conservation | HKU Faculty of Architecture

MONDIACULT2025 Posters

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