CK FOUNDATION Initiatives

“Breads Between Us – بيناتنا خبز” is a project developed in Saudi Arabia by the Archi.Media Trust in collaboration with Koor Benefit Corporation, the Culinary Arts Commission, and the Ministry of Culture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with the support of the Creative Knowledge Foundation. Conceived as an “archaeology of memory”, the initiative explores the diverse breadmaking traditions of seven Saudi cities — Al-Ahsa, Buraydah, Jeddah, Jazan, Madinah, Riyadh, and Taif.

Through field research, storytelling, and documentation, the project traces how bread knowledge traveled along ancient caravan routes, such as the Hajj Routes, the Incense Routes, and the Spice Routes, revealing centuries of exchange between external influences and indigenous Bedouin practices.

By collecting the voices of farmers, bakers, and knowledge keepers, Breads Between Us builds a living archive that celebrates Saudi Arabia’s agricultural heritage and its enduring connection to wheat cultivation and breadmaking. The project also connects traditional knowledge to contemporary questions of sustainable development, food security, and climate adaptation.

For thousands of years, communities in the Orobic Valleys — shared between the Italian Provinces of Bergamo, Lecco, and Sondrio — have built their economy on the sustainable use of natural resources and livestock, producing seven distinctive artisanal cheeses: the Principi Orobici (Agrì Valtorta, Formaggio Tipico Branzi, Formaggio di Capra Orobica, Formai de Mut, Bitto Storico Ribelle, Stracchino all’Antica delle Valli Orobiche, Strachìtunt DOP).

Using the Creative Knowledge Platform to document the stories of the Knowledge Keepers across the cheesemaking value chain, CK Foundation produced the interactive bilingual book The Cheese Valleys: The Birthplace of the Orobic Cheesemaking Tradition, one cultural itinerary, and seven booklets — one per cheese — that contributed to Bergamo’s designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy in 2019.

Phase 2 has expanded and updated this documentation with new research, photography, and narratives deepening the connection between people, landscape, and tradition. It has also strengthened collaboration between local producers, institutions, and the UCCN, promoting the Cheese Valleys as a living model of cultural sustainability and community resilience.

In collaboration with the Municipality of Portoviejo and the University of Manabí, CK Foundation is supporting the development of a long-term heritage and development plan for this Ecuadorian region — a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy.

The project applies the CK Foundation operational format across four phases: mapping the territory and its Knowledge Keepers; heri-telling and field documentation through the Creative Knowledge Platform; learning-by-doing and intergenerational transmission; and sustainable development models for the local economy. The framework aligns with the Faro Convention and the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

The long-term vision includes restoring an ancient building damaged in the 2016 earthquake and creating an innovative gastronomic laboratory where students, chefs, and farmers can work together to keep the ancient culinary traditions of the region alive.

Creative Patterns is a multi-cluster project promoted by Como — UNESCO Creative City of Crafts & Folk Art — with the support of CK Foundation. Textile artisans, designers, students, and creative professionals from UNESCO Creative Cities across all clusters collaborate to design and produce objects — clothes, soft furnishings, designer pieces — that combine shared traditional skills, folkloric influences, and innovative technologies. In collaboration with the Silk Museum and local social cooperatives, the project also launches educational workshops bringing children into the world of crafts and textiles, and initiatives supporting the most vulnerable groups in the community. Starting from the Silk Road and the Spice Routes, Creative Patterns fosters creative cross-contamination between peoples and cultures — first within the Crafts & Folk Art and Gastronomy clusters, then expanding to all UCCN clusters.

“Drumming is the most primal expression of music that’s been with us since prehistory so I think it’s a great platform to work from. […] Every city will have a drumming story”

Announced by Kansas City, UNESCO Creative City of Music at the UCCN XIII Annual conference in Fabriano (June 2019, Italy), this project focuses on the cultural heritage and creativity of the drum – recognized as both historic and contemporary musical heritage, and as vehicle for cultural expression and resistance to racism and inequality.

The Creative Knowledge Platform will be used narrate the stories of the drum in each city: from the beat unique to each culture, to the history and literature of that tradition, to the crafting of the instrument itself — an essential element of many indigenous cultures — and the performances of musicians and composers who use the drum to express their heritage.

“Le Rotte del Pane” is a project, ideated by Koor srl Benefit Corporation, developed in coordination with the Italian Navy and in partnership with the Creative Knowledge Foundation and many other supporters.
The project aims to globally share and promote Italian excellence through bread and the baking process. In this context, the Amerigo Vespucci Ship will become an ambassador of traditional and creative Italian knowledge, hosting bread artisans from various Italian regions that will work alongside the ship’s kitchen staff. The ship will stop in 28 countries across the 5 continents, and during these stops in coordination with the Italian Navy there will be ship visits open to the public and institutional dinners organized with Italian embassies that will also involve the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.
During these events bakers on board of the ship will make fresh bread with a focus on eco-sustainability, quality, and the ancient and well-established Italian bread making traditions.

The objective is to set a concrete and tangible example of cultural exchange, inclusion, sharing of traditional knowledge, sustainability to better preserve the environment and promote health, for which Italy is the spokesman in the world. Thanks to the collaboration with the Creative Knowledge Foundation, which created and promoted the ‘Breads of the Creative Cities’ project for the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, “Le Rotte del Pane” project sheds light on the cultural significance of bread and how it serves as a unifying element among peoples

Breads from Creative Cities (BfCC) – Panettieri d’Italia began in 2020 as a special edition of Breads of the Creative Cities (BoCC), launched by Fabriano (UNESCO Creative City of Folk Art and Crafts) — in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Officially recognized by UNESCO as a Cities’ Response to Covid-19, BfCC brought together local Italian bakers to share traditional bread recipes and cultural stories during the lockdown.
The initiative evolved into an open global platform allowing bakers, farmers, and millers worldwide to document and share the story of their territory’s traditional bread through the Creative Knowledge Platform.

The goal of the proposed Parrhasian Heritage Park (PHP), Greece is to sustain an area of cultural significance, outstanding natural beauty and rich archaeological site while encouraging local communities to continue living and working within the protected landscape.
Together with local research centers, universities, non-profit organizations, the civil society and volunteers CK Foundation has joined the project and contributes to its effort with the Creative Knowledge Platform, which is used to describe the TK systems of the local communities within the area of Arcadia, Elis and Messenia.
Stories of the local Knowledge Keepers and their unique knowledge and expertise will be narrated through websites and multimedia platforms to engage park visitors and residents alike in understanding and appreciating the uniqueness of the area.

Historic agricultural practices have played a dominant role in shaping landscapes, creating a heritage that must be understood and preserved from a point of view of sustainable development.
A multidisciplinary approach that combines landscape archaeology, historical studies, geosciences, and computer-based geospatial analysis and modeling will be used to understand long-term landscape change.
CK Foundation will contribute to the efforts of this project with the Creative Knowledge Platform (CKP) used to publish periodic updates of the project in plain language and to convey a message on the importance of environmental sustainability and awareness on heritage conservation to a broader general audience.