New Project in Collaboration With UNESCO Aims to Preserve Puppetry Art

A two-year project to preserve and build capacity for Egypt’s traditional Aragoz hand-puppet art has been launched in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The initiative supports the safeguarding of Aragoz, which was inscribed in 2018 on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.

The project is funded through UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund under the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. It aims to strengthen documentation efforts, institutional coordination and the transmission of skills to ensure the continuity of the practice.

The launch took place during a stakeholder coordination meeting attended by Robert Parua, Acting Director of the UNESCO Cairo Office; architect Hamdy El Satouhi, head of the Cultural Development Fund; and Dr Nahla Emam, advisor to the Minister of Culture for intangible cultural heritage.

Practitioners, artisans and civil society representatives joined officials from cultural and academic institutions to review project objectives, implementation mechanisms and trainee selection criteria.

According to project leads, the framework is structured around three pillars: field mapping of practitioners, digital documentation of performances considered at risk, and structured transmission of expertise to a new generation of performers.

An intensive training programme will combine practical workshops led by experienced practitioners with theoretical courses covering Aragoz history, performance techniques and cultural management.

The meeting concluded with a review of eligibility requirements ahead of an open call for trainees. First-year training is scheduled to begin in April.