The UK government’s Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) is leading on ‘Living Heritage’ which is the UK’s implementation of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH).
Calls for submissions to the Inventory for ‘Living Heritage’ in the UK are now open until 27th March 2026
The DCMS is wanting to avoid duplication of submissions where possible, so the Morris Ring will be working with the Morris Federation and Open Morris – as the Joint Morris Organisations – to prepare submissions representing the key activities of our membership, which will include not only all the styles of morris and sword dancing, but also appalachian, clog stepping and mumming, for example.
ommunity consultation and input is a very important part of submissions to the inventories, so prior to submission we will be consulting the membership of all three organisations on the wording, examples, and links to other sources of information.
What about specific events? We may ask you to submit your own events for inclusion, but we will let you know the process for that when we are further into the process ourselves.
This is only the first window of opportunity to submit - there will be future calls for submissions. More details have been released by the DCMS at: https://livingheritage.unesco.org.uk/
Cheers - and a Happy New Year
From the Officers of the Morris Ring
Emma, Rob, Clayton