Following the creation of the UNESCO Chair in Translating Cultures at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS) in October 2023 with the support of the Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission, the Chair hosted a “UNESCO Chairs meeting” on Thursday April 25 with the aim to develop collaboration centered around the theme of intangible cultural heritage.

The meeting was attended by directors from several UNESCO Chairs, including the UNESCO Chair for Intercultural Dialogue in the Mediterranean (at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Spain), the UNESCO Chair on Research on Intangible Cultural Heritage and Cultural Diversity (at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), and the UNESCO Chair on Cultural Heritage Education (at Helwan University in Egypt), as well as representatives from Saudi Arabia's Heritage Commission and Saudi scholars in the relevant fields.

The initiative behind the meeting seeks to develop a series of collaborative international workshops and provide a forum to discuss the significance and vitality of cultural practices across different (yet connected) geographic and linguistic spaces, also outlining the role of translation in sharing and preserving intangible cultural heritage. The workshop series will take place in early 2025 and embark on the second-year annual theme of the UNESCO Chair in Translating Cultures, which is “Translating Cultures and Intangible Cultural Heritage.”