2018: European Year of Cultural Heritage. Our heritage: where the past meets the future

2018 is going to be a special year: a European Year. This is already something special in itself since it will be the only ‘European Year’ in the office period of the Juncker administration. And, it is going to deal with something that concerns all of us: Cultural Heritage.The overall objective of the Year is to encourage the sharing and appreciation of Europe's cultural heritage, to raise awareness of our common history and values, and to reinforce a sense of belonging in a common European space.

Tibor Navracsics, EU Commissioner in charge of Education, Youth, Culture and Sport, at the start of the second European Year of Cultural Heritage (EYCH) stakeholders meeting, put it this way: “EYCH shall provide an open space for dialogue and community-making, it shall be open to the public and to other areas of the world. Cultural heritage needs to be brought outside museums and used as a fundament to build the European future. It is cultural heritage which makes the notion of Europe meaningful and gives a framework to our identity. We should harness all the opportunities of the past offered by cultural heritage to develop a meaningful scenario for Europe.”  

The Directorate General Education and Culture (DG EAC) is taking care of the preparation and coordination of this European Year. Michel Magnier, as Director for Culture and Creativity and Catherine Magnant as head of the EYCH task force are the leading figures in this process. But, it should be clear that EYCH is not just restricted to EAC: many DGs announced special actions or dedicated priorities to support the Year, many organisations and networks are prompted to take initiatives and relate their work to cultural heritage. A structure of National Coordinators (NC) in each member state was installed and a European committee of stakeholders supports the processes of brainstorm and roll out.

The results of years of preparation are surfacing now in a series of actions and calls targeting a wide range of sectors and target groups. This includes formal and non-formal learning, adult education, vocational training, citizenship, culture, all focusing on cultural heritage as a means or a context to reach their specific objectives.

Creative Europe

Creative Europe, the European programme for Culture, launched a dedicated call for cooperation projects responding to the objectives of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018. It is an invitation to cultural actors across the EU to get involved in the Year's activities.

The priorities for this call are:

• to reinforce a sense of belonging to a common European space;
• to promote cultural heritage as a source of inspiration for artistic contemporary creation and innovation and strengthen the interaction between the cultural heritage sector and other cultural and creative sectors.  

In total, 5 million euro will be available for heritage projects under this dedicated call. The deadline for submission is 22 November 2017. The start date for projects should be between January and September 2018, with a maximum duration of 24 months.

Cultural heritage related projects are also still eligible under the 2 categories of the ‘normal’ 2018 Creative Europe call (smaller and larger cooperation projects) with an expected budget of 40 million euro.

Cultural Heritage for Learning

Heritage education is not only to be seen in the context of history, art and culture lessons or traditional crafts training. It also offers great potential in terms of motivation, innovative cross-curricular approaches, school–community links, the European cultural dimension, social and civic competences, entrepreneurship, cultural awareness and expression. In this respect EYCH offers the momentum to strengthen the bond between heritage and learning. Apart from E-Twinning projects and vocational competence development in heritage contexts there are many reasons to explore the opportunities offered by the Erasmus+ programme.

Therefore it is important to be aware of the potential of cultural heritage contexts to realise the objectives of the European educational programmes. Erasmus+ e.g. wants to support individuals in developing key competences - including basic, transversal and soft skills, entrepreneurial, foreign language and digital skills - in order to foster employability, socio-educational and professional development. Heritage education is the key to promote both the protection of our cultural and natural heritage and the use of heritage to enrich learning processes of adults and youngsters: learning about, for and through heritage.

DG EAC also runs the Youth programme. Here the European Solidarity Corps, allowing placements from 2 to 12 months in different volunteering projects (100,000 young people by 2020), offers opportunities to work in heritage environments.

A common effort from different Directorates General

At the second EYCH stakeholders meeting several ‘other’ DGs presented their actions related to the EYCH.

DG for Research and Innovation (RTD) presented Horizon 2020 opportunities for cultural heritage: the 2018-2020 H2020 work programme will offer funding for research and innovation on Cultural Heritage, in 2018. RTD will organise a High-level H2020 conference (March), a networking and launch event of new H2020 research projects on cultural heritage (October), and the 'Heritage Alive' conference and Fair of EU Innovators on Cultural heritage (November). RTD will also launch networks and social platforms on different topics such as endangered heritage and cultural diplomacy.

DG for Communications, Networks, Content and Technology (CNECT) will e.g. focus on film heritage projects, festivals and film heritage education, the use of digital technologies in the heritage field, a workshop on digital technologies for the preservation and restoration of cultural heritage …

DG REGIO presented how cultural heritage is taken into account in different EU Regional and Urban policy programmes. Funding for heritage is available in the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion funds. Culture is one of the most popular topics in the INTERREG cooperation programme. REGIO is also working with the Council of Europe  to develop Cultural Routes for Macro Regions.

DG Enviroment showed how the Natura 2020 Network is going to include EYCH. DG MARE will promote actions on maritime, coastal and underwater heritage, DG DEVCO stressed the role of cultural heritage in EU development policies.

DG HOME elaborated on the opportunities in the Europe for Citizens programme. The programme is composed of two strands: European remembrance and democratic engagement & civic participation. EYCH is included in the priorities of the second strand.

So, 2018 EYCH creates an integrated approach and synergy between many departments and organisations to work in and with cultural heritage in a European context to bring culture again where it belongs: in the centre of our attention. Education, and especially adult education can play an important role to bring about the cultural and social value of heritage.  

More info on EYCH can be found here.

Guy Tilkin, general manager of Alden Biesen, a magnificent heritage site, an international culture and conference centre and a tourist draw in the province of Limburg, Belgium.