Leif Larsen Music Center

The Leif Larsen Music Center is situated within the Royal Garden of the Altit Fort compound. The Center provides facilities for traditional musicians and performers of Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral to train youth in different traditions and genres of mountain music. It was set up under the Aga Khan Music Initiative in partnership with Royal Norwegian Embassy. Following the Ustaad-Shagird (teacher-apprentice) model of music education, the Center offers students short courses for training in local music instruments, music education and production as well as short residencies for visiting artists, writers, historians and environmentalists. The Center also helps local communities organize different festivals and music events. 

The construction of the center had been primarily done through the CIQAM social women enterprise, using local materials and vernacular architecture techniques. In April 2011, the very first Aga Khan Music Initiative event post restoration was held in the courtyard of the Altit settlement, rekindling the linkage between festivals, celebration, music, dance and the Fort functions of old.