Country overview: Kuwait, a small country located on the north–east of the Arabian Gulf, with a population estimated about 3.3 million, one third of it are native Kuwaitis.
The Committee of Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage of the State of Kuwait (CSICHSK) established in 2011 in the capital of Kuwait by the National Council of Culture, Arts, and Letters, a government institution. The CSICHSK consists of Kuwaiti ICH experts from the government and private sector. It is responsible for safeguarding the ICH in all over Kuwait, formulating the ICH policy, planning cultural events, supporting traditional bands and musicians, artists, handicrafts makers, representing Kuwait at UNESCO – ICH Convention, and participating in international cultural conferences and festivals.
The efforts of collecting, recording, and safeguarding the ICH started in 1956, when the ministry of social affairs decided to start recording the history and the living heritage of Kuwait such as songs, dances, art, fashion, handcrafts, popular stories, interviews, and more. It established a committee named "Popular Heritage Committee" to be responsible to accomplish all of these tasks. They have succeeded in preserving Kuwait ICH elements. However, most of such elements are recorded and saved in old formats, which was available to them then. The current committee (CSICHSK) is working on a big project to transform all of these elements into modern formats(,i.e., DVD, CD, Websites…).
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