The Basketmakers’ Association’s submission to the UNESCO Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage

You will find details below regarding the UNESCO Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage – https://livingheritage.unesco.org.uk

Please take time to read through the information which informs you as members of our proposal to submit ‘Basketry’ on behalf of the Basketmakers Association.

What is it?

On the 5 December 2025 the Government Department for Culture, Media and Sport launched the UK Inventory for Living Heritage. This initiative follows the UK ratification of the UNESCO Convention on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage of 2024, to increase recognition of the country’s knowledge, skills and practices in a way that had previously been enjoyed by its buildings, monuments and museum artefacts. Heritage Craft is the official community support hub for the UK craft inventory.

Heritage Craft are using the term ‘Living Heritage’ as opposed to the UNESCO ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’.The final aim is to create a national inventory of UK Living Heritage. There will in fact be four inventories, one for each of the home nations England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. However, these can be treated as one, which would be the likely case for our submission.

Living Heritage

UNESCO have identified seven categories for inclusion in the inventory:

– Oral expressions
– Performing arts
– Social practices
– Nature, land and spirituality
– Craft
– Sport and games
– Culinary practices

We propose that we will submit Basketry into the craft category.

Certain criteria for inclusion within the Inventory must be met. For example:

– must be currently practised. (i.e. by you, the Basketmakers Association membership)
– must be living heritage
– can originate from anytime and be from anywhere
– must be compatible with existing internationally agreed human rights standards
– must be legal
– must have free, informed and prior consent from the community of practice (More on this important requirement later)

Why get involved?

Put simply, this is too big an opportunity to miss out on. By inclusion on the inventory, a craft would expect to raise awareness outside of the practising community. We would gain recognition by being part of a UK wide platform and process. The inventory is expected to become a means to connect with other crafts and be the go-to source of information for any researchers or similar interested parties.

Finally, inclusion will enable a conversation about how we collectively safeguard our living heritage. Indeed, safeguarding will become a corner stone of the inventory.

What next?

Any group or individual can make a submission. However, all submissions must be made following ‘free, informed and prior consent from the community of practice’. It is the aim of the Basketmakers Association to make such a submission on behalf of our membership. The first stage is to submit an ‘expression of interest’, and this has already been completed.

Hopefully in writing this article and keeping you, the membership, informed we will be adding to our portfolio of consultation. We would expect our final submission to cover all aspects of basketry. Therefore if you have any comments or require clarification, please do not hesitate to make contact via [email protected].

The submission deadline is 27 March 2026 so please get in touch asap.

In summary

The possibility of achieving UNESCO recognition for our craft should not be overlooked and would indeed be a wonderful progression for the Basketmakers Association.