The purpose of the "Ethnographic Center Giorgis Melikis - Mask Research Center" is the research, finding, evaluation, processing, enrichment, utilization and promotion of the single and integral body of our primary oral and artistic folk tradition, with procedures based on principles, rules and values beyond any casual commercialization. In particular, the approach with historical and aesthetic sensitivity of the thousands of personal and other on-site authentic records, which constitute the basic trusts and at the same time the diverse trunk of a long-standing intellectual, scientific and artistic research that moves at the limits of collective memory. The basic purpose is also that all this material processed, whether in primary form or enriched, returns through various technical means such as books, records, concerts, exhibitions, productions, etc. to the creator of the people.
The purposes include, by way of indication and not limitation, the organization of concerts, workshops, conferences, training seminars, indoor and outdoor exhibitions with school visits, etc. as well as the editing of books, magazines and publications related to the subjects of our primary oral and artistic folk tradition. The connection with University andTechnical Foundations, Institutes or Research Centers abroad with the aim, through the exchange of persons, experiences, knowledge, materials and opinions, to improve the research and comparative field. To achieve its goals, the "Ethnographic Center Giorgis Melikis - Mask Research Center" cooperates with respective Centers or Organizations, scientific Societies or publishing houses, natural or legal persons of private or public law in Greece or abroad. At the same time, there is also the "Mask Research Center" whose purpose is to collect, research and study mainly the Greek folk mask, but also those of other countries. "Mask" or "Face" are archetypal form and expression in Greek popular events. The core of the Mask Research Center is the collection of 120 so far functional "face" masks from all over Greece.