Related pages:

• For the JMO’s proposed submissions to the Living Heritage inventory, see our page: //www.morrisfed.org.uk/resources/unesco-living-heritage-submissions/ (THIS PAGE)
• For the JMO’s latest Expressions of Interest (EOI) to the Living Heritage inventory, see our page: //www.morrisfed.org.uk/resources/unesco-living-heritage-eoi/ 
• For the current information about the Living Heritage inventory, see our page: //www.morrisfed.org.uk/resources/unesco-living-heritage/
• For background information on the consultation by the DCMS in the lead up to the Living Heritage inventory, see our page: //www.morrisfed.org.uk/resources/unesco-ich/ (THIS PAGE)

‘Living Heritage’ is the UK’s implementation of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH).  For more info on UNESCO ICH see https://ich.unesco.org/en/home and how it applied to morris dancing and related activites at: https://www.morrisfed.org.uk/resources/unesco-living-heritage/

Process for submissions to the Inventory

This is a 2 stage process.  The first stage was to enter Expressions of Interest (EOI)s, and the second is a process of community consent leading the full submission.

The first wave of submissions closes on 27th March 2026.  The JMO (Joint Morris Organisations) has been working together to prepare our submissions, and we now need your input as part of the morris community, as community consent is a crucial part of the UNESCO submission process.

You can see our draft submission text at tinyurl.com/JMO-LH-Draft-202603 .  If you have any feedback, please email us at ich@thejmo.org by Tuesday 24^th March.

If you wish to join us to discuss the draft submissions, we’re opening two zoom calls as opportunities for discussion on Friday 20th March at 11:00 and 18:30. If you’d like to join us, please email ich@thejmo.org

The JMO needs to enter the submissions by Friday 27th March. There will be another window of opportunity for submissions in mid 2027.

Thank you from your JMO Living Heritage team – Emma Melville (Morris Ring), Jen Cox (Open Morris) and Jenny Everett (Morris Federation).

There will be future windows of oportunity to submit entries to the Inventory.

Expressions of Interest (EOI) entered by JMO prior to full submission

For the JMO’s latest Expressions of Interest (EOI) to the Living Heritage inventory, see our page: //www.morrisfed.org.uk/resources/unesco-living-heritage-eoi/ 

Community Consent – we need you!

As part of the submissions process to the Invetory, it is a requirement that the practitioners of the Living Heritage give their Community Consent for the description of their activity and whether it needs safeguarding.

What can our members do?

The JMO will contact their memberships and key contacts in March 2026 to request Community Consent – a vital part of the process prior to submission – we ask you to help us improve the submissions (within the word count allowed, of course!).  We hope that this will be in early March 2026.

Community consent is a vital part of submissions to the inventories, so, prior to submission, we will be consulting the membership of all three organisations on the wording, examples, links to other sources of information, and whether it needs safeguarding.

When it comes to adding items to the Inventory, we may ask you to submit your own events for inclusion, but we will let you know the process for that when we know more details.

Here are the headings we have already submitted Expressions of Interest for:

Expressions of Interest (January 2026)

• Appalachian Step Dancing
• Border Morris Dancing
• Clog Step Dancing
• Cotswold Morris Dancing
• English Country Dancing
• Fools and Beasts
• Longsword Dancing
• Maypole Dancing
• Molly Dancing
• Mumming and Guising Plays
• North West Morris Dancing
• Plough Morris Dancing
• Rapper Sword Dancing
• Stave Dancing
• Step Dancing

Last updated: March 2026