Lok Virsa, US institute to expand collaboration

Islamabad: The National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage (Lok Virsa) on Thursday announced the expansion of its partnership with the Smithsonian Institute of USA to build the capacity of local cultural organisations.

Building upon the success of their previous alliance, both institutions have launched the phase two of their mutual partnership in the form of a new project, ‘Expanding US-Pakistan Partnership for Diversity and Shared Heritage in Pakistan.’

The objective is to promote folklore and traditional arts, developing stronger linkages with other cultural outfits and inducing creative expressions in Pakistan. The institution, recently, has been seen as passionately dedicated to pursue new “epiphanies” of culture and have been the torch bearers of preservation of the folk traditions of Pakistan. It has been working to preserve, collect and disseminate culture in the purest form especially the folklore and folk music for the past two years.

Not only this, it has been investing in initiating new projects focused on capacity building of the stakeholders of culture and heritage. As part of its efforts to increase and diffuse knowledge, the organisation had joined hands with the Asian Culture History Programme (ACHP) of the internationally renowned research centre, the Smithsonian Institution, USA and Interactive Resource Centre (IRC) to launch the ‘Celebrating Diversity and Shared Cultural History’ programme.