Overview

For decades, all forms of culture & folklore have served as powerful, effective vehicles of cultural diplomacy to inspire and enable people to build and to strengthen diplomatic, economic and cultural bridges in order to come together towards the development of prosperous peaceful relations. Indeed, over the course of the years, institutions and individuals have used the unique potential of culture & folklore to transcend cultural barriers, serving as common languages to bring together different groups and communities in order to promote democracy, cultural understanding, human rights and beyond.

The Berlin Forum on Folklore Diplomacy 2024 will take place in Berlin from May 16 - 19th, 2024 and will focus on the potential for Culture & Folklore Diplomacy to serve as powerful vehicles of cultural diplomacy within and between nations. The Forum will examine examples of Culture & Folklore Diplomacy and explore potential future applications of Culture & Folklore Diplomacy on international relations. The forum will bring together renowned figures from international politics, art and academia to speak to an interdisciplinary audience including diplomatic and political representatives, young professionals, scholars and academics.

Folklore - The term folklore was coined by the English researcher William John Thoms in 1846, when he founded the field of folklore as an academic field. Folklore deals with the transmission of folk traditions in diverse forms such as customs, music, dance, cultural foods, poetry, clothing, art, folk tales, language, and the like. Folklore developed at the same time as the nation states, industrialization and modernization. The development of nationalities comes together with developments in folk identity and folk tales.

Locations

Based in Berlin, the conference will be hosted at ICD House of Arts & Culture and in a number of important political, historic, and cultural locations across the city.

Speakers & Delegates

Speakers during the forum will include leading politicians, senior diplomats, governmental officials, senior academics, journalists, and celebrated artists. These speakers will include individuals from the ICD Advisory Board. To learn more about the ICD Advisory Board, please click here.

Forum Participants »

Participation in the conference is open to governmental & diplomatic officials, academics, economists, representatives of the Business sector, artists, journalists, civil society practitioners, representatives of the Business sector, young professionals as well as other interested individuals from across the world.

If you would like to reserve a position and participate in the conference, please click on the link below and fill out the online application form:

Registration

Certificate of Attendance - All conference participants will be awarded an official certificate of attendance upon completion of the program, which will provide details of the speakers who took part and the topics discussed.

Participant Papers »

The Forum Committee encourages academic research and analysis of issues related to the goals of the Forum. The Forum Committee would therefore like to welcome the participants of the Forum to submit a paper they would like to be considered for presentation at the Forum as well as being included in the proposal document that will be issued following the Forum and will be sent to all governments and leaders of the international community worldwide.