The ITKI, US Chapter (ITKIUS) strive to stimulate the crucial role of Traditional Knowledge in the development of “sustainable and circular economies”, to raise awareness about cultural diversity and to promote intercultural dialogue.

In order to pursue its mission, ITKIUS has developed the Creative Knowledge Platform, a methodological model that uses the TRusTTM Platform to:

  • Narrate and document the stories, the traditions and the ancient techniques used by the Knowledge Keepers;
  • Document the creative processes of the Knowledge Keepers through a mix descriptive material, interviews, photos and videos;
  • Create experiential itineraries to meet the Knowledge Keepers through a smartphone application;
  • Provide content for interactive publications using QR code and Augmented Reality technologies to access multimedia information and have an immersive experience in the Knowledge Keeper’s environment;
  • Create a professional training plan to maintain and preserve the local traditional knowledge and to promote sustainable development of the territories.

Using this methodological approach, ITKIUS is carrying on several projects, dedicated to the UNESCO Creative City (UCC) Network, some of which are listed below.

 

If you are interested to one or more running projects,
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Breads of the Creative Cities is the current ongoing project curated by ITKIUS and its partner Tucson UCC of Gastronomy (2015). The goal of this project is to document and promote the bread baking traditions of the UNESCO Creative Cities around the world, involving not only the bakers, but also the millers and the farmers, creating a complete story of the local bread. We are extending the definition of “bread” to include any local staple food that plays a culturally significant role in a community’s heritage, to include as many UCCN member cities as possible. This project continues the efforts of the Days of Bread event, held in Krakow, Poland for the UCCN XII Annual Meeting, June 2018.  More than 50 UNESCO Creative Cities participated in the project in 2019 and used the CKP to:

  • Share the recipes, techniques and traditions of the UCCN “breads”;
  • Create experiential itineraries accessible through a smartphone application;
  • Provide content for the publication “Days of Bread” (1st, Krakow, June 2018), and “Breads of Creative Cities (2ndEd., Fabriano, June 2019). Now is under development “Breads of Creative Cities (3rdEd., Santos, June 2020).

During 2018-19 ITKIUS organized several “Bread of the Creative Cities” events around the world, visiting Krakow (PL), Puebla (MX), San Cristóbal de Las Casas (MX), Alba (IT), Bologna (IT), Milano (IT), Carrara (IT), Fabriano (IT), Gaziantep (TK), Paducah (USA) and interviewing local bakers, farmers and millers. More events are scheduled for 2020.

 

Discover more info about the project “Breads of the Creative Cities”

 

The second project, created with the support of the City of Como, UNESCO Creative City Candidate for 2019, and the City of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, UCC Craft & Folk Art (2017), is Creative Textile. The project aims to preserve, narrate and share the UCC’s textile traditions and the ancient techniques used to make them. Creative Textile offers the opportunity to study and document traditional knowledges creatively applied in various territories around the world and it applies the Declaration of San Cristóbal De Las Casas.

The first Creative Textile event took place in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, where the City of Como delivered to local artisans from Zinacantàn, Chenalhó, Huixtán, Oxchuc, San Juan Cancuc, pieces of silk to be embroidered with the local typical patterns, tools and techniques from the Mayan tradition. The City of San Cristóbal de Las Casas sent to the creative designer from the City of Como typical Mayan patterns to inspire them to create new patterns and products. The resulting work was presented at UCCN XIII, Fabriano, June 2019.  

A second Creative Textile event took place in Archita (Transilvania, Romania), with the gracious efforts of the Maria Nobrega Foundation, where ITKIUS was able to demonstrate how the event can take place both virtually and in person, again applying the Declaration of San Cristóbal de Las Casas.

In Archita ITKIUS laid the foundation to a new and more extensive version of the project opening it to textile artisans from all over the world (not just to UNESCO Creative Cities), who can meet through a physical and virtual hub of collaboration, allowed by the Creative Knowledge Platform.

Other events are scheduled to take place in Gaziantep (Turkey) in September 2019, Zahle (Lebanon) in October 2019, and other UCC around the world.

 

Discover more info about the project “Creative Textile”

 

This project has the main aim of preserving, narrating and sharing artisanal cheese making traditions within the UCCN. The driver of this new intra-cluster project is the City of Bergamo, UCC Candidate 2019, and the Tucson UCC of Gastronomy.

The first outcomes of the project will be highlighted during the World Cheese Award, October 17-20, 2019 which will be held in Bergamo (Italy), when the book “The Cheese Valleys: The Cradle of the Orobic Cheese Making Art” will be presented.

The project has potentials to be carried forward over the years, slowly incorporating not only all the UNESCO Creative Cities, but also any artisanal cheese-producing communities around the world.

 

This project is inspired by a previous project carried forward by ITKIUS and the Municipality of Carrara in 2017, to promote the Candidature of Carrara to become UNESCO Creative City of Crafts & Folk Art.

This project has the main aim of preserving, narrating and sharing the artisanal traditions and the ancient techniques used in creating sculptures and monuments by artists and their “hands”.

The project will be announced in Kanazawa (Japan) during the Craft & Folk-Art Cluster Meeting, October 13-16, 2019. The first phase will be focused on Carrara artisans and artists and expanded to all the UNESCO Creative Cities interested.

 

Discover the preview of “Hands at Work: Carrara Marble”

 

The Voyage of the Drums, developed by Kansas City (USA) with the support of ITKIUS, wants to bring the UNESCO Creative Cities of Music together in cooperation with all the other UCCN clusters to understand why “drum” is a cross-cultural form of human expression and cultural heritage. The Voyage of the Drums is an opportunity to present the “drum” as one of the first instruments cultivated by many cultures, spanning centuries of human development, and representing an immense cultural contribution to the music, the crafts and folk-arts and other UNESCO Creative clusters.

Within the UCCN network, we believe that the following aspects of the drum can be addressed and demonstrated:

  • The Beat: Much of drumming defines the cadence of the beat within cultural communities; every city and culture has a specific rhythm
  • Literature and History: The stories of the Drum’s introduction in history spans all cultures and can be presented in unique and varied ways; diaspora of African people around the world;
  • Crafts: Depending on where one lives, a drum’s components are integral part of the history, wood, skin, straw and many indigenous features;
  • Composers and Musicians: There are prolific musicians throughout history as the drum became a part of music in the colonies and beyond.
  • Film: Video is an excellent medium for sharing the voyage of the drum as a performative art and cultural heritage

Discover more info about the project “Voyage of the Drums”