UNESCO 2003 Convention on Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage
Safeguarding Cornwall's Living Heritage
The call for Expressions of Interest and Full Submissions for practices to be added to the UK’s inventories of Intangible cultural heritage is now open!
To submit an element of living heritage to the inventories, you will need to complete the following steps:
1) Fill in a short Expression of Interest form to provide initial information about the element.
2) Watch the first part of the workshop about the inventories and community consent – you can also book onto a full workshop.
3) Fill in the Full Submission form.
This initial round is open until the 27th of March 2026.
There will be future calls for submissions as the inventories are intended to reflect living practices as they change, come and go.
What's It All About?
Intangible cultural heritage, ICH, also referred to as ‘living heritage’, is being recorded on inventories as part of the implementation of the UK government’s ratification of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
This process is being overseen by the World and Living Heritage team within the Department of Culture, Media and Sport who have a dedicated Living Heritage in the UK website – which is also fully available in Kernewek.
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what is living heritage and why is it important?
Living heritage, sometimes called ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’ is traditions, knowledge, and skills passed down through generations – like songs, dances, stories, festivals, and ways of making things. They help communities feel connected and express who they are. They connect us to the places we live and the landscape around us.
The Cornish were recognised as a national minority by the UK government in 2014, under the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. This recognition grants the Cornish the same status as other Celtic groups in the UK, such as the Scots, Welsh, and Irish, acknowledging their distinct culture, history, and identity.
This process is an opportunity for Cornish communities and practitioners of living heritage to have their practices, beliefs, knowledges and skills recognised as part of the UK’s living heritage.
How to make an Expression of Interest / full submission
Complete an Expression of Interest form
This is a short form covering basic details of the living heritage item you want to submit, and contact details so that you can be invited to the next stage.
Attend a community consent workshop
Once you have submitted an Expression of Interest for your living heritage item, you will need to attend an on-line workshop about community consent. These free workshop are available here. You can watch the pre-recorded workshop and there is an option to attend a live on-line workshop. The workshops will give you information on how to get community consent.
It is important that the living heritage item is being put forward by or on behalf of the community of practice, and that the community has given its free, prior and informed consent for the living heritage to be submitted. More details on understanding what your community of practice is, and why community consent is important, can be found on the Living Heritage website here.
Complete the full submission form
The full submission form is a longer and more detailed form than the Expression of Interest, where you will be asked for more details about your living heritage item.
The form will enable you to:
- Demonstrate that your item meets all the criteria.
- Demonstrate that have you have community consent.
During the submission process there will be additional support from DCMS and Lowender, including:
• Extensive guidance/FAQs on the Living Heritage in the UK website
• Online information sessions, twice a week that provide a beginner’s guide to the UNESCO ICH Convention and its implementation for practitioners.
• DCMS are providing an information session on 26th February at midday to talk through the submission form and answer any questions on the different sections. All upcoming information sessions can be found here.
• Community surgeries run by Lowender – more details below!
The deadline for full submissions in this initial round is the 27th of March 2026 (although future calls for submissions will take place).
Why is Cornish ICH on the English Inventory?
The UK inventory process is working on a four nation panel model (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales). Each panel will be made up of experts who help review submitted items.
As Cornwall falls within the administrative jurisdiction of England, items from Cornwall will be submitted under the England inventory panel for review.
While this does not indicate that the item itself is culturally English (for example Peruvian Dance Folklore is submitted under the England inventory), those who consider their nationality / heritage to be Cornish in respect of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities may feel they cannot engage with the UK inventory process for this reason.
As an alternative or addition to the UK-wide inventory, Bord Ertach Kernow are creating their own Cornwall-only list of intangible cultural heritage. You can find the submission process for this here.
How do I submit a Cornish Living Heritage item?
If you consider your intangible cultural heritage item to be distinctly Cornish, there are various ways you can reflect this in your submission:
Recognising the Cornish / Cornish culture
1. Tick the ‘Cornwall’ box to geographically locate your item in Cornwall. If the practice occurs in various locations across the UK, you can tick multiple location boxes.
2. Reference the importance of your practice as part of Cornish cultural identity in the item’s description.
3. Ensure you use the tag #Cornish, allowing Cornish intangible cultural heritage to be searchable and identifiable in one filtered list.
Aswon an Yeth Kernewek / Recognising the Cornish Language
The ICH inventory portal has been translated into Kernewek, and it is possible to submit items in the Cornish language – including the item name(s) and / or description.
As above, you can help make Cornish language items easier to find by:
1. Ticking the Cornwall box and any other geographically relevant boxes
2. Referencing the use / importance of Kernewek in the item description
3. Ensuring you use the tag #Kernewek, allowing Cornish language associated items to be searchable and identifiable in one filtered list.
Processes and Review
The UK inventory process is working on a four nation panel model (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales). Each panel will be made up of experts who help review submitted items.
For administrative purposes, expressions of interest for items of Cornish living heritage will be submitted under the England inventory. Ways to identify items as distinctively Cornish are outlined above.
An Alternative: Cornwall's Own Inventory
We’re delighted Cornish intangible cultural heritage has an opportunity to be recognised in this UK-wide inventory. However, since there are many customs and practices that happen both in Cornwall and further afield across the UK, it is possible that not every individual item of Cornwall’s ICH that is submitted will be represented on the final UK inventory and (perhaps initially at least) a broader term is used to cover many similar living heritage items.
Bord Ertach Kernow, Cornwall Council’s Heritage Board, are also creating a separate list of Cornish ICH which encompasses the full breadth of Cornwall’s heritage practices.
We strongly encourage Cornish people / communities who may not wish to engage with the UK-wide inventory to submit their item to Cornwall Council’s Heritage Board survey of intangible cultural heritage in Cornwall as an alternative.
Both these inventory call outs are a fantastic opportunity to gather and celebrate our rich heritage.
Do you need help? Lowender is here!
Lowender is one of 11 UK Community Support Hubs which have been chosen by the UK government to support the process of recording of the UK’s living heritage.
As a Hub, Lowender will support grass roots communities, tradition bearers and cultural practitioners across Cornwall and further afield through the process of contributing to the Living Heritage Inventory.
If you would like advice, or support making a submission (either the Expression of Interest or Submission Form):
Come to one of Lowender's community surgeries
Lowender is organising online and in person events during the submission period to raise awareness of the inventory submission process and support communities and practitioners to have their living heritage recorded.
We ran in-person and online community surgeries on:
- Monday 15th December, 7.30pm: (Online)
- Saturday 10th January, 10am: Kresen Kernow, Redruth, TR15 1AS (Hybrid)
Check back here or on our Facebook/Instagram pages for more information!
Email Us
Do you have a question about ICH and the inventory process?
Please email us on ich@lowender.co.uk and we’ll get back to you!
ICH: Essential info
What is happening?
In December 2023, the UK Government announced its intention to ratify the 2003 UNESCO Convention for Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Signing up to the convention means creating an inventory of intangible cultural heritage in the UK. This will be regularly reviewed helping to identify any heritage which might be ‘at risk’.
The UK government is now inviting expressions of interest and full submissions from communities and practitioners who would be interested in submitting their intangible cultural heritage to a UK-wide inventory.
The Department for Media, Culture and Sport is collaborating with UNESCO on a dedicated website for this process which includes an extensive FAQs section about what can be submitted and how to do so.
What living heritage can be submitted?
Simply put, heritage can mean any ‘living heritage’ which is practiced by communities.
The UK government completed a public consultation on how the UK’s ICH should be collected and the results are published here.
From the results of the consultation, the government is inviting submissions in the following seven categories:
- Oral Expressions: Living heritage relating to both spoken-word and non-verbal communication that are used to pass on knowledge, cultural and social values and collective memory. Examples could include proverbs, riddles, songs, nursery rhymes, or storytelling.
- Performing Arts: Living heritage relating to performance and human creativity. Examples could include different musical practices, dance, or drama.
- Social Practices: Living heritage that is often shared and practised by a group. Examples could include calendar or seasonal customs, festivals, celebrations or rituals.
- Nature, Land, and Spirituality: Living heritage relating to the environment and belief. Examples could include building techniques, land management systems, knowledge about certain animals and plants and ecologies.
- Crafts Living heritage relating to the skills, knowledge and making of things, either by hand or with assisted tools. Examples could include specific practices of weaving, wood carving, pottery, blacksmithing, or stonemasonry.
- Sports and Games Living heritage relating to games, competitions or activities needing physical effort and/or skill. Examples could include sporting events or recreational games.
- Culinary Practices Living heritage relating to the preparation and consumption of food and drink. Examples could include the making of specific dishes or the sharing of food and drink socially.
You can find the full UNESCO definition of intangible cultural heritage here.
What is criteria for submission?
- Must be currently practised.
To be considered for the inventories the item must have a living community who hold the knowledge or know-how of the item to be carried out, and who are able to pass on the item to future generations.
Submissions should provide information on the current and future viability of the item and will be able to indicate whether the community submitting the item considers it to be endangered, e.g. that it is in danger of dying out without significant change in the current level of transmission. - Can originate from anywhere and be from anytime, but must include information about the history and transmission within the community concerned.
The item does not need to have a minimum age or have been passed down a minimum number of times and it can originate from anywhere and anyone. - Must be the living practice itself.
A submission to the inventories must be the living practice itself, rather than any associated items (tools, instruments, costumes, materials, spaces, or outputs). - Must be compatible with existing internationally agreed human rights standards.
For example, with the rights of others to non-discrimination and equal
treatment, privacy, freedom of thought and expression, and participation in social and cultural life. - Must have free, prior and informed consent from the community. The submission must provide evidence that the practicing community has consented to the item of living heritage being submitted to the inventories.
- Any commercial benefit from the living heritage item, must be for the primary benefit of the community.
