Fast Forward Heritage

July 20, 2018, 7:05 pm

Culture Action Europe’s principles and actions for a forward-looking legacy of the European Year of Cultural Heritage

European Year of Cultural Heritage (EYCH) is a crucial initiative promoting a contemporary understanding of cultural heritage. This renewed vision, converging all art forms, aims to bring Europeans together, connects past, present and future. A Europe that protects creativity and cultural diversity is one that can confidently look into the past to find the energy to leap into the future.

The EYCH has enabled rich exchanges across cultural heritage experts, European and national institutions, EYCH Stakeholders and Culture Action Europe (CAE) members. It has fostered better inter-institutional and cross-sectoral collaborations. The EYCH has also provided a sound understanding of the points of convergence between actors active in the cultural heritage field, delimiting in this way the arena for joint European action. These interactions inform the recommendations presented below. 

KEY MESSAGES:

  • Actions funded in the field of cultural heritage should guarantee its European added value and respect European values, with especial emphasis on democracy, humanistic and pluralistic values and cultural rights;
  • Put into practice an inclusive and forward looking definition of cultural heritage across policies, programmes and actions, and the subsequent adaptation of definitions, objectives and tools;
  • Take in consideration a regenerative approach to cultural heritage based on an active engagement with present cultural production and contemporary society;
  • Cultural spaces and cultural heritage must be placed in a broader European and global context within education and civic education structures and programmes;
  • Funding mechanisms should ensure accessibility to a plurality of organisation in order to avoid concentration of public resources, enabling greater diversity of ideas and results for innovation to flourish;
  • Consultative structures should be established within the remit and management of European Institutions, guaranteeing inter-institutional coordination and the inclusion of the wider culture and cultural heritage stakeholder community.

Read further

CAE position| Fast Forward Heritage

En avant le Patrimoine