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Cultural Development

Aga Khan Programme for Islamic Architecture at Harvard and MIT
Based at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture (AKPIA) is dedicated to the study of Islamic art, architecture and urbanism, landscape design, conservation and the application of that knowledge to contemporary design projects. The goals of the Program are to improve the teaching of Islamic art and architecture; to promote excellence in advanced research; and to enhance the understanding of Islamic architecture, urbanism, and visual culture in light of contemporary theoretical, historical, critical and developmental issues.

AKPIA represents a mutually enriching collaboration between two of the world’s great universities. It offers graduate students and post-doctoral fellows a broad array of intellectual resources within a dynamic and diverse learning community. A core of internationally respected faculty members at Harvard and MIT direct the Program, and share with students their expertise in historic and contemporary aspects of art, architecture and public spaces in Islamic societies.

Founded in 1979, AKPIA is supported by an endowment established by His Highness the Aga Khan.

ArchNet.org
ArchNet (www.archnet.org) is the most comprehensive digital archive of resources on architecture, urban design and development, and related issues of concern to the Muslim world. It seeks to enable participants to learn how to enhance the quality of the built environment in their communities; to compensate for a lack of resources at their academic institutions; to honour the rich legacy of their cultures; and to celebrate the humanistic traditions of Islam. At the heart of ArchNet is a free and open online architectural library – the world’s largest with a focus on the Muslim world – which is available to members without cost. It draws on the extensive resources of AKPIA at Harvard University and MIT, as well as the collections at the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Selected materials, reproduced digitally on ArchNet, provide valuable resources and teaching tools for students, educators and professionals, especially those with limited access to architectural publications and research.

Participants from around the world continually add to the bank of on-line resources. ArchNet collaborates with architectural schools to provide institutional workspaces that allow for the sharing of locally based resources and knowledge, including studio work research and publications, across borders and cultures.

The activities of the Trust have generated a series of rich collections which scholars, researchers and students are able to draw upon. The importance all programmes place on detailed documentation has created a knowledge base for those interested in the history of Islamic architecture and art, contemporary architecture in the Muslim world, or in learning from exemplary cases of historic preservation. The AKTC Library also holds the archives of the French architect planner Michel Ecochard, a copy of the archives of Hassan Fathy and a range of country surveys, while the collections of many scholars and institutions are now showcased in digital format on ArchNet.

All the programmes of the Trust disseminate information about their work through a variety of publications, a listing of which can be found at www.akdn.org. A series of CDs and DVDs, which draw on the documentary resources of the Trust and tailor information to specific educational and informational needs are also regularly produced and distributed.

International Academic Partnership
The International Academic Partnership, which draws on the experience of the Aga Khan Education Services, Phillips Academy, the Institute for Educational Development of Aga Khan University, and Schule Schloss Salem, promotes global education and student-centered teaching at participating schools. The program focuses on professional development for teachers and curricular innovation at all affiliated institutions. Since its founding in 1993, the IAP has linked schools in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America to create a living laboratory for the study of issues related to developing nations and to provide a forum for the dissemination of methods of cooperative teaching and learning (Find out more).

Collaboration with University of Texas
The Memorandum of Understanding signed in April 2008 by the Aga Khan University and the University of Texas at Austin provides for an expansion of the two Universities’ existing programs relating to education and teaching about Muslim Histories and Cultures and identifies a number of other areas for further initiatives, including architecture and human settlement; management, government, public policy and civil society; economic growth and development; education, science and technology; health sciences including joint research and training; and human development.

Aga Khan Music Initiative and the Smithsonian Institution
A number of cultural initiatives, particularly through the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia (AKMICA), have introduced North Americans to the culture of Central Asia through a series of tours across North America and a set of recordings in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution.The Performance and Outreach Programme of the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia (a part of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture AKTC)) presents Central Asian musical traditions to audiences worldwide, helping to build relationships between musicians from Central Asia and a global network of music-presenting institutions. Since its inception in 2002, the International Performance and Outreach Programme has produced numerous concerts in the United States, as well as Europe Africa, and selected countries in Asia. Before the Music Initiative began its work, concerts of music from Central Asia were rare in Europe and North America. Typically restricted to small venues frequented by audiences whose focus was specifically “world music”, the choice of musicians tended to be haphazard, and the quality of the concerts uneven.

In 2007, the music Initiative brought 17 musicians from Central Asia on an 11-city North American tour called “Spiritual Sounds of Central Asia: Nomads, Mystics, and Troubadours.” The tour provided North American audiences with a rare opportunity to hear music from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Qaraqalpakstan (an autonomous region in Uzbekistan). Concert performances included the legendary Azerbaijani vocalist Alim Qasimov and his daughter Fargana; Bardic Divas, four women from Kazakhstan and Qaraqalpakstan who demonstrate the power and beauty of the female voice; and the Badakhshan Ensemble, which performed trance-inducing mystical songs from the majestic Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan and Afghanistan. The concerts included introductory documentary films about the featured musicians; supertitles with translations of song lyrics; and live, large-screen video close-ups. In addition, the tour featured children’s programmes, university lectures and residencies, pre-concert discussions and museum presentations. Tour stops included Boston, New York, Cleveland, Chicago and Los Angeles.

In 2006, a tour of the United States that featured concerts in Washington, New York, College Station, Texas, Albuquerque, New Mexico and Oxford, Ohio coincided with the release, on Smithsonian Folkways, of Music of Central Asia, Volumes 1-3. The innovative series, which will eventually comprise 10 volumes, includes a CD, a DVD with a documentary film on the featured musicians, as well as interactive instrument glossaries and maps. The series is a co-production of the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia (a programme of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture) and the Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

In 2002, AKTC was also the lead funder and creative partner of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which was dedicated to “The Silk Road: Connecting Cultures, Creating Trust." The 2002 Festival featured a living exhibition of the music, crafts, culinary and narrative traditions involved in the cultural interchange between the "East" and the "West." Held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C, the festival featured 350 traditional artists from Central Asia and other countries. Over 1.5 million people attended the festival.

AKTC was also the lead funder and creative partner of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project, which seeks to preserve and revive the traditional music of Central Asia and enhance its role thorough providing financial resources, technical assistance and organizational support directly to individuals and organizations in the region.