SESSION C – Youth and Intangible Heritage: Museums as Connectors
Date: 13 November 2025
Time: 14:30–16:00
Format: Conference (Panel + Discussion)
Organiser: ICOM SEE

Session Overview

In rapidly transforming societies, museums serve as key platforms for connecting younger generations with intangible cultural heritage—rituals, oral traditions, performing arts, craftsmanship, and oral history. This stand-alone session organized by ICOM SEE will explore the growing role of museums in Southeast Europe and beyond as spaces where youth actively engage as cultural carriers, co-creators, and advocates.

Presenters are invited to share innovative models of youth involvement in safeguarding and reinterpreting living heritage. Contributions may highlight educational programs, youth-led initiatives, participatory (especially digital) platforms, or institutional strategies that promote intergenerational dialogue and cultural sustainability.

The session will foster critical dialogue on the practical and conceptual challenges in engaging youth in intangible heritage processes and identify opportunities for museums to strengthen their role as inclusive, participatory, and forward-looking institutions.

Alignment with ICOM Dubai 2025 Themes

• Youth Power: Empowering young people as active heritage practitioners
• Intangible Heritage: Preserving and revitalizing traditions in contemporary contexts
• The Future of Museums: Positioning museums as inclusive and collaborative institutions for future generations

Submission Guidelines

We welcome contributions from museum professionals, scholars, youth representatives, and practitioners working at the intersection of museums, youth, and intangible heritage. Selected speakers will be invited to participate in the moderated panel discussion.

Participants are required to submit the following information:

• International committee and number of ICOM membership
• Institution of employment and role in the institution
• Session and topic for which the presentation is submitted
• Title of submitted paper presentation
• Abstract (200 words minimum –  300 words maximum)
• Keywords (5)
• Name(s) of Author(s)
• Contacts with obligatory email address
• Support equipment required
• Marking whether the presentation is planned to be onsite
• All submissions must include a 100‐word bio with a photograph of each presenter.

 

Please send proposals as a Word Document attachment to the e-mail icomsee00@gmail.com  with the subject reference: ICOM SEE SESSION PROPOSAL and your name.

Deadline for submission: 22 June 2025
Notification of acceptance: By 31 July 2025 (the latest)

Final speakers will be confirmed in compliance with UAE Professional Conference Organizer (PCO) requirements.
The session will be moderated by a representative of ICOM SEE.