Community Voices from around the World

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Center for the Arts of Homer
72 S Main St
Homer, NY 13805

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The Center for the Arts and Access to Arts Cortland welcomes Cortland community members originating from around the world to share their stories. Their first speaker is Gul Kalash.

Gul Kalash works to preserve the endangered Kalash culture and language in a remote region of Pakistan. A member of the indigenous community herself, Gul Kalash works to keep traditional beliefs, language, dress, religion, art forms, and other cultural elements alive. As the first Kalash archaeologist and only Kalash woman trained as a scientist, she’s a compelling representative of a culture under threat. Once powerful and widespread, the Kalash civilization numbered tens of
thousands of people, yet only about 3,600 Kalash people now remain. Gul Kalash is an archaeologist, culture activist, museum professional, storyteller, and field
officer at Directorate of Archaeology & Museums Govt. of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan.
Currently, she works at UNESCO world heritage Site Jaulian Monastery Khanpur Taxila Pakistan. She is also an emerging explorer of National Geographic 2013. In 2010 she received a presidential award from then president of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari. She worked with UNESCO as a social mobilizer on a culture mapping project in 2010. She was part of the prestigious “cultural Heritage Management Training” at Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, USA. She is also part of many documentary short films, including the DW documentary. She produced and directed a short documentary film on Kalash, “Kalasha the Core
of Culture.”She promotes Kalash culture and tourism at the national and international levels. She has published an article on “Kalash community” Masters Research on the Burial Tradition of Kalash Comparison to Gandhara Grave culture. She recently completes her post-graduation at the department of Taxila Institute of Asian Civilization, Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad, Pakistan. Research topic is “Connecting Rock Art and Mythology,” A Case Study of Kalasha
Valleys.
She was also part of many excavations and exploration programs with Hazara University and the with the home department Directorate of Archaeology & Museums Govt. of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan.