Folk culture, heritage course ends at NIFTH

Islamabad :The 10-day course on 'Folk Culture and Heritage Management' on Thursday ended at the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage (NIFTH), Lok Virsa, with a grand musical performance by the Chitrali folk band, Qash Qarian and Irfan Ali Taj.

Folk musicians from Chitral enthralled the audience with their music and dance performances.

The closing ceremony was attended by a large number of people from different walks of life including professional and general masses, art and craft experts, cultural personalities, diplomats, political figures, journalists and students visited and entertained by the fascinating performances of the artists.

Professor Frank Korom of the University of Boston convened the course and guest lecturers included Dr Fouzia Saeed, Farooq Qaisar, and Dr Nadhra Shahbaz Naeem Khan.

Vice-Chancellor of the Allama Iqbal Open University Dr Shahid Siddique was the chief guest of the ceremony.

He said the course was a ground-breaking, and one of its kind of initiative, which disseminated professional-level knowledge through world-class lecturer and guest lecturers, among the students, teachers, scholars and professionals associated with promotion and preservation of cultural heritage in Pakistan.

Lok Virsa executive director Dr Fouzia Saeed in her welcoming address said over the course of last two weeks, we had invigorating and immersive lessons on topics ranging from "Puppetry", "Museum Designs", "Sikh Heritage" and "Material Culture" among other similar subjects.

"In this course, we discussed strategies, tools & methodologies of culture management and heritage preservation,” she said.

Writer, archivist and co-founder of the South Asian Research and Resource Centre Ahmad Salim was a guest of honour of the evening.

He said such seminar proposed to revitalise and celebrate folk traditions that were the root of the creative, emotional, social and spiritual aspects of people’s lives including practices, values, rituals, knowledge, arts, crafts, music and stories.

US Embassy acting counsellor for public affairs Michele Los Banos and acting cultural attache Maureen Mimnaugh also attended the certificate distribution ceremony in the concluding session of 10-day seminar.