Chief Program Officer
Thomas Duncan has been living in Morocco for over 9 years and speaks fluent Arabic. Thomas Duncan is a previous recipient of the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation through the U.S. Department of State for the project Musical Heritage of the Southern Draa Valley, implemented with PFCF program Joudour Sahara in southern Morocco (2016-2019). Thomas and the local team created the digital archive www.draaheritage.org. Through the International Society of Music Education, he is also the recipient of the ISME-NAMM Foundation’s Project Development grant for documenting traditional music transmission with tribal groups in southern Morocco, learning from these methods to create intergenerational exchanges among these groups for sustained cultural preservation in the Zagora region. Thomas also participated at the United Nations’ Conference of Parties (COP 22) in Marrakech, Morocco, speaking on how climate change has impacted youth and youth development throughout the Sahara desert.