Ľubica Voľanská delivered a keynote address at a seminar on migration and cultural heritage in Finland
Our colleague Ľubica Voľanská participated in the fifth international seminar on intangible cultural heritage, held on 12 July 2025 in Kaustinen, Finland. The event, entitled Music on the Move – Migration, Resilience and Identity, took place within the Kaustinen ICH Academy programme and as part of the 57th Kaustinen Folk Music Festival, whose main theme this year was migration.
Ľubica Voľanská delivered a keynote lecture entitled Where Migration Studies Meet Living Heritage: Community Building among Ukrainian Refugees in Slovakia, which she prepared together with Martina Wilsch. In this presentation, they shared the results of research conducted with the Ukrainian community in Slovakia and highlighted the significance of living heritage in the context of migration.
This was followed by a panel discussion with artists and researchers who explore the themes of music and migration from various cultural perspectives. The seminar emphasised the personal stories and experiences of migrants that shape new forms of musical traditions. The programme also included live performances by ensembles from Georgia and Finland. The event was held in English and streamed on the YouTube channel of the Finnish Folk Music Institute.
In addition, within the framework of the Kaustinen ICH Academy, Ľubica Voľanská presented a paper on intangible cultural heritage and the implementation of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Slovakia.
The lecture and seminar programme took place for the second time in conjunction with the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival and included the fifth edition of the Kaustinen ICH Seminar, which featured speakers from fourteen European countries and other parts of the world. The Kaustinen ICH Academy is organised by the Finnish Folk Music Institute and the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival, in collaboration with the University of the Arts Helsinki and Centria University of Applied Sciences.
More information can be found HERE.
