With the partnership of 9 institutions in 8 countries, the Institute of Advanced Studies Kőszeg has started the implementation of the INTERREG EUROPE project Local Flavours (Spicing up authentic tourism in towns with rich heritage through reviving local cultural flavours) on 1st August 2019.
Project duration: 36 months in 2 phases
Project total budget: 1,816,879.00 EUR
iASK share from total budget: 274,963.00 EUR
Participating partners (9 institutions from 8 countries):
Institute of Advanced Studies, Kőszeg, Hungary
Harghita County Council, Romania
Municipality of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands
Waterford City and County Council, Ireland
Savonlinna Development Services Ltd., Finland
Municipality of Vittorio Veneto, Italy
Riga Planning Region, Latvia
Institute for Tourism, Croatia
Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Italy
Project Abstract:
Local Cultural Flavours’ objective is to improve policies supporting places unable to utilize their cultural legacies due to disadvantaged locations. The project will help partners meet the challenge of identifying the most effective ways to support unique local sites with an innovative analysis toolkit, extensive knowledge sharing, and assisted interaction with local public and private stakeholders. This way, the specific local and regional potentials and bottlenecks can be adequately explored and used to elaborate the right policy frameworks, which will elevate and position new authentic destinations. As a result of the cooperation of the international partnership, 8 Action Plans will be produced as the main outcomes. Targeting various policy instruments (ERDF Operational Programmes, development and marketing strategies) supporting the addressed locations in their pursuit to become more integrated and integral players in regional tourism, based on their recognized and properly used authentic cultural assets.Policy Instrument Addressed by iASK:
The KRAFT Program is one of three pilot regional development policies of the Hungarian government and aims to focus on the sustainable development of small and medium-sized border towns. In contrast to conventional regional and city development practices, the approach of the KRAFT Program integrates so-called “soft” factors (culture, identity, heritage) and their efficient management with “hard factors” such as infrastructure, energy, communication networks, and economic sustainability. Another novelty of KRAFT is to identify and utilize synergies of interdependencies among rural and city development factors, thus accurately revealing the full range of conditions required for the implementation of new and complex regional development strategies of cities and their rural environment. The government holds iASK responsible for the preparation of the KRAFT Program and its adaptation to other border regions in Hungary. In the course of Local Cultural Flavours, iASK aims to improve the KRAFT Program to correctly build on cultural heritage based urban development, often the most promising development asset of small/medium cities, and an intervention area providing economic, job creation, business/tourism attractiveness, workforce/inhabitant retention benefits, all at the same time.
INTERREG Europe project Local Flavours hosted professor Greg Richards!
After the invitation of our Advisory Partner (UNIBO Department of Cultural Heritage DBC), the announced expert on cultural tourism and creative industry, gave an online lecture to the Local Flavours project participants on 18th May, 2021. Richards reviewed the changes in the history of cultural tourism and paid special attention to the contemporary threats and opportunities. Among others, the questions of authenticity and the contemporary role of cities were discussed. The lecture followed by a lively discussion through which not just the partners introduced their projects but many other case studies and good practices were mentioned as well. The event was thought-provoking and unquestionably very timely during the preparation period of action plans.
Local Flavours at the Spatial Development Conference
28 April 2021
Dr. Mariann Szabó held a presentation “Exploiting the potential of authentic tourism – introduction of the ‘Local Flavours’ INTERREG project” at the 3rd Conference of Spatial Development Practitioners – ‘Development Before and After 2020’ on 28 April, 2021.
The INTERREG EUROPE project, led by the Institute of Advanced Studies Kőszeg, was launched on 1 August 2019 in partnership with 8 partners from different countries. Small and medium sized towns with rich but undervalued cultural heritage possess the potential to offer new, unique and authentic experiences, but suffer from either the dominance of major attractions in their vicinity, or from their relatively remote locations. Positioning them as authentic destinations can simultaneously sustain local cultural heritage and create better prospects for locals. The attraction of visitors to less recognized places can create a more even distribution of tourism and more cohesive regional economies. Local Flavours’ objective is to improve policies supporting places unable to fully exploit their cultural legacies due to less-advantaged locations. The project helps partners to identify the most effective ways to explore and valorise authentic cultural assets through an innovative analytical toolkit, knowledge sharing and improved communication between public and private stakeholders. The special feature of the ‘Local Flavours’ project is that it is implemented with the participation of a consortium that is diverse in terms of both territory and development (from Finland through Latvia to Romania). Dr. Szabó in her presentation provided insights about the challenges of the project, the system of evaluation of good practices, and a few interesting results of the Status Quo Analysis of the Kőszeg – Írottkő Nature Park and the possible directions of action planning.
A joint virtual study visit and workshop
The Heritage Department of the Municipality of ‘s-Hertogenbosch invites the partners and
stakeholders of the Local Flavours and Keep On projects to join a virtual study visit and workshop, to
share our approach to cultural heritage: PRESERVATION THROUGH DEVELOPMENT.
Our department is at the heart of cultural history preservation and development in the Dutch city of
‘s-Hertogenbosch (meaning the Duke’s Forest.) We are closely involved in preservation, listing,
developing, and providing access to the heritage in our city and the adjacent region, especially in the
fields of archaeology, archives, building history, monuments, and fortifications. We are the link
between policymakers, academics, students, and the field itself by providing information, advice, and
operate within the legal framework to safeguard our cultural heritage.
www.erfgoedshertogenbosch.nl/over-ons/about-us
Jeroen van de Ven, architect. Balancing between conservation and renewal.
Thinking about how to deal with monuments has changed a lot since the last century, from object to
area and from conservation to development. This means that the reallocation process is always a
balancing act between conservation and renewal, and that transformations are often necessary in
order to make buildings function (again). A reallocation scan provides insight into the cultural and
building history values of a monument, the possibilities for reallocation and the financial feasibility.
Jeroen van de Ven will introduce a Dutch approach to adaptive re-use, valorising local authentic
values, through a multidisciplinary collaboration between the disciplines of construction and cultural history, urban planning and architecture, housing and building management.
Adri Ederveen, initiator and co-owner of Hotel The Sweet Mother.
This former monastery has been renovated and transformed for hospitality purposes.
It serves as both a hotel and a neighbourhood meeting centre with an educational and social mission. The monastery hotel is an exceptional location where guests flourish. It is foundation Bij de Soete Moeder’s mission to offer young people such as jobseekers, dropouts and students looking for a work placement an opportunity to learn and gain work experience. The founders have taken over the social and civic role of the nuns.
Dennis Dekker, Municipality of ‘s-Hertogenbosch: Cultural Heritage going digital. Virtual and
augmented reality in cultural heritage products.
Good Practice “Cycling route 1629“
Around ‘s-Hertogenbosch is a cycling and walking route along the old defence line from 1629. Over a length of 49 kilometres, beautiful nature and impressive cultural history alternate. The municipality has commissioned the development of the1629 Line route app to attract a wider public and share more historical knowledge. By using the camera on your phone, you can make two war
correspondents from the 17th century appear in Augmented Reality (AR). These guides witnessed the Siege of ‘s-Hertogenbosch themselves and tell you about the fascinating historical events. This way, a Covid19 safe activity becomes extra entertaining.
Good Practice “The online Monuments Day”
Due to the Covid19 pandemic the traditional Open Monuments Day 2020 was cancelled. To offer an
alternative, the Online Monuments Day was organised by the municipalities of ‘s-Hertogenbosch,
Sint-Michielsgestel and Vught. In just a few weeks’ time a total of twelve monuments was visualised
in an innovative, spectacular way, both from the inside and the outside. For the outside images of the monuments a drone was used. Details are explained by a voice-over. For the inside images of the monuments, 3D techniques were used. The visitor can create his/her own digital tour, using 360
degrees images. Owners and users of the buildings give their personal touch to the online tour. They show hidden treasures and share their own favourite elements.
Culture and Heritage
28 January 2021
The Netherlands Commission for Unesco calls for a greater recognition of the power of employing culture, heritage and traditional knowledge in climate action. The Call is made in light of the international Climate Adaptation Summit which takes place on January 25 and 26.
A human and cultural challenge
Not only does climate change force us to protect our heritage, our heritage can also protect us. Culture, heritage and historical knowledge are powerful assets for local climate adaptation strategies. The Commission expresses its conviction that climate adaptation is not just a matter of finding the best technical or management solutions; rather, it is a human and cultural challenge. Culture-based solutions such as local and traditional forms of knowledge, building on experiences from the past, and the use of culture and heritage are of vital importance in order to create the necessary change in mindset and to make climate action more inclusive and socially acceptable.
Kathleen Ferrier, President of the Commission: “When climate adaptation is built on local traditions and customs it provides agency for community groups to be in the driver’s seat of change, and as such, it helps to democratize climate action and enhance public support for climate policies.”
The Climate Adaptation Summit, hosted by the Netherlands, brings together world leaders to find solutions to adjusting to the effects of our changing climate, such as sea level rising, extreme drought and heat or floodings. Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen welcome, amongst others, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the new Climate Envoy of the US John Kerry, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
Side eventThe Netherlands Commission for Unesco organizes a side event at the summit to present a culture-based approach to climate adaptation. Our background paper Changing minds, not the climate: culture-based solutions to local climate adaptation further illustrates our approach and vision. The Commission has collected a number of practical examples from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, from which lessons can be drawn about the great potential of culture-based solutions to local climate action. These examples have been a vital source of inspiration towards shaping our vision. Conversely, these four examples demonstrate how our vision resonates in practice. They are presented in our best practices paper.Read the Commission’s full statement about the role of heritage and culture in climate action. Read about the contribution from the Local Flavours partner ‘s-Hertogenbosch Good Practice ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
Lake Saimaa area stakeholders discover…
25 November 2020
As support for the dissemination of good practices and the drafting of the regional action plan, Local Flavours stakeholders from Lake Saimaa area gathered on the 18th November in an online workshop to formulate actions necessary for the valorization of regional local heritage values. The workshop gathered over 30 enthusiastic participants.
Workshop organized by the Local Flavours project team in cooperation with the rural advisory agency ProAgria touched themes that many stakeholders are elaborating and turned out to be a success. Participants represented a variety of interests including entrepreneurs in creative industries, local museum and heritage sector operators, public officials and also representatives of national agencies, including the National Museum of Finland (operating Olavinlinna Castle as a museum in Savonlinna).
On the basis of the analysis of needs and expectations discovered in the workshop, Local Flavours project will be able to match and disseminate information about good practices discovered in the project with those stakeholders most likely to benefit from the knowledge exchange. Simultaneously, based on the numerous ideas and proposals put forth in the workshop, Local Flavours team in Savonlinna will formulate actions for the regional action plan to be compiled during the winter and circulated for feedback in the spring 2021. The process started on a very opportune moment, when several ambitious project in the field are starting in the area. These include the Savonlinna bid for European Capital of Culture 2026, nomination of Lake Saimaa on the national tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage and several related project in the field of cultural heritage.
Workshop participants shared the conviction that valorization of cultural heritage cannot be reduced to the goal of increasing visitor numbers of some attractions. Rather it is a participative creative process to be catalyzed and facilitated. It will have a wide impact on the region in the form of increased self-esteem, enhanced identity, innovation and creativity and obviously as a result also on the promotion of the region as an attractive tourism destination and a place to live.
As such, the collaborative process for the valorization of cultural heritage started now as the first of its kind in Finland. ”We were really happy that there was such a wide consensus about the great significance of cultural heritage for our region and its potential for commercialization”, concluded Local Flavours project manager Susanna Peura.
In the first workshop (of a total of two), a consensus was found that lake environment and water are the binding theme for the region. Although participants came from a wide area ranging c. 200 km in circumference, it was discovered that people are involved with similar pursuits and ambitions and share similar values and goals. The opportunity to share information about their own activities generated lively interaction and encouraged participants to think, if their activities could be scaled up for a wider region or shared to wider regional networks of stakeholders. The aim of the second workshop in 2021 is to develop some ideas presented into a proposal for action and new projects.
The facilitator of the workshop Ph.D. Laura Puolamäki from ProAgria emphasized that with the methodology of action networking it will be possible to form local initiatives wider shared objectives and goals with a bottom-up approach. Local actors have rich experience and ideas they would like to promote. Sharing and joining forces will empower local actors to carry on with their efforts and result into something bigger and more visible with higher impact on the livelihood of people. ”Our team of three experts from ProAgria will be able to support stakeholders especially with their expertise on cultural heritage and cultural landscapes preservation as well as tested methodology for rural development” Ph.D. Puolamäki pointed out.
Virtual European Heritage Awards Ceremony
23 November 2020
Europe’s top heritage award winners were celebrated with a memorable online Ceremony on 10 November. More than 1,000 people from around the world watched the livestream of the Ceremony to witness the announcement of the three Grand Prix laureates and the Public Choice Award winner, selected from among the 21 winners of the 2020 European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards, and the unveiling of the two winners of the ILUCIDARE Special Prizes, for excellence in heritage-led innovation and international relations.
The virtual European Heritage Awards Ceremony was co-hosted by Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, and Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović, Secretary General of Europa Nostra, with the participation of Hermann Parzinger, Executive President of Europa Nostra.
Koen Van Balen, Coordinator of the ILUCIDARE project, introduced the ILUCIDARE Special Prizes for cultural heritage-led innovation and international relations, emphasising how cultural heritage can spur innovation in many ways and how it can be a key element in people-to-people international relations. The winners of the ILUCIDARE Special Prizes 2020 were then unveiled by Commissioner Gabriel: TYPA – the Estonian Print and Paper Museum in Tartu, Estonia, for excellence in heritage-led innovation; Archaeology for a Young Future, a collaborative project by partners in Italy and Syria, for excellence in heritage-led international relations.
Unfortunately the nominated project from ‘s-Hertogenbosch did not win the ILUCIDARE Special Prize for excellence in heritage-led innovation. Huibert Crijns was however invited to co-host the Europa Nostra workshop “fostering sustainability” and shared his experience. This was a great platform to share lessons learned from the Local Flavours project.
The good practice from ‘s-Hertogenbosch is included in the booklet about the winners of the European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards 2020: issuu.com/europanostra/docs/2020-awards-magazine
Cultural Heritage in Action project
20 November 2020
Cultural Heritage in Action is one of the actions of the European Framework for Action on Cultural Heritage of the European Commission. It is a peer-learning programme that will allow over 100 local and regional policy makers to exchange knowledge on cultural heritage, with a focus on participatory governance, adaptive re-use and quality of interventions.
The project shall empower cities and regions to strengthen their cultural heritage policies and initiatives as well as develop innovative solutions to preserve cultural heritage assets.
Following an open call for contribution launched in February 2020, 32 local and regional practices were selected to be featured in a European catalogue of good practices. The featured practices are policies, projects, events, or organisational structures developed by local and regional authorities.
They are implemented by local/regional authorities themselves or by other local stakeholders and:
• are innovative
• are inspiring for other cities and regions
• have a real impact on the ground
The organisation has presented a catalogue of inspiring stories focusing on three main topics that are interlinked: Participatory governance of cultural heritage; Adaptive reuse of built heritage; Quality of interventions on cultural heritage.
Cooperation between Europe’s small and medium-sized towns and their geographic environment is particularly important today. These towns alone cannot make efficient use of their resources in today’s globalized world. They need to recognize their heritage, their values, be aware of their common past and present, and incorporate them all into their future. They can offer the most to their community and themselves by caring for their existing values, and their all-encompassing culture.
The Local Flavors Interreg project is about small and medium-sized cities in eight European regions: it is about the joy and challenges of renewal and of finding new paths, the unfolding of a new spirit of cooperation, and the innovative presentation of cultural, natural and architectural heritage. They rediscover their settlements and cultivate their common values. The characteristics of the participating regions differ greatly, but despite their differences, they convey important and common human and social values.
This value-creating process can be just as interesting to the visitor as a centuries-old edifice or the site of a once-important battle site. At the end of the day, the Local Flavor project demonstrates that culture is not a luxury, rather, it is a matter of life and death – and it needs to be cultivated daily. This common concept is presented in our following project video.
31 July 2020
Tourism in the post COVID_19 period
On 23 July 2020, the Policy Learning Platform organised an online meeting for local and regional policymakers with the objective to explore the synergies between sustainable tourism and CCIs and to trigger the exchange of good practices from different EU regions how to best support these sectors in the context of the Covid-19 crisis.
Setting the scene for the discussion of local and regional solutions, Mr. Maciej Hofman from the European Commission (DG Education, Youth, Sport and Culture) gave an overview of the measures taken on European level as a response to the crisis. In particular, he put spotlight on the variety of European funding instruments which CCI actors are invited to consider when tackling the challenges posed by the crisis.
Collaboration between different stakeholders becomes even more important in times of crisis
Looking at the negative effects of event cancellations on tourism and societal well-being, Ms. Mariann Szabo from Interreg Europe Local Fravours project emphasised the value of stakeholder partnerships, in particular joint activities between entrepreneurs, public bodies, cultural partners, and the business community. For instance, den Bosch Summer (Netherlands) focuses on small-scale activities and events that bring benefits for all residents and entrepreneurs. In Waterford (Ireland) the emphasis is on creating new journeys (e.g. developing local food touring route and coastal cliff walk route, organising Irish culture workshops) in rural areas and thus raising awareness about lesser-known territories. Moreover, Ms. Szabo gave an outlook on trends for the post-pandemic period, with the expectation to see slow tourism combined with a quest for authenticity on the rise. Presentation
Dr. Mariann Szabó, Thematic expert, Local Flavours project – presentation
Image credit: Photo by daniyal ghanavati from Pexels
Local Flavours project in Ludbreg
30 July 2020
On July 23rd Croatian team, from the Institute for Tourism, went to the town of Ludbreg where Dr. sc. Renata Tomljenović presented Local Flavours project to “Iovia-Ludbreg” project team.
Ludbreg is a small town outside the main tourism corridors with rich cultural heritage connected to its history. The town is reconstructed through EU funding but still lacks a good management, that would connect cultural component with the tourism. The Local Flavours team discussed with “Iovia- Ludbreg” partners their experiences, project development and its implementation, in order to integrate their problems and obstacles in recommendations for the improvement of cultural heritage management.
“A most important social effect of the Corona virus pandemic is the increased demand for locally available, endogenous goods and services” said Mariann Szabó, PhD, a leading expert in the INTERREG Europe ‘Local Flavours’ project. Speaking at the online discussion of the INTERREG Policy Learning Platform, on Thursday, July 23, she stressed that in the unanticipated situation brought on by COVID-19 less well-known territories and communities need to respond in innovative ways to the challenge – they must become proving grounds for innovation in multiple areas. They need to put essential social changes onto practice which concern both material and immaterial elements of the life and actions of towns and cities, with special attention to culture and tourism.
The ‘Local Flavours’ project may just become such a social proving ground. Its objective is to improve policies supporting places unable to fully exploit their cultural legacies due to their less-advantageous location. It helps participating communities in eight EU member countries to effectively identify and exploit their authentic cultural heritage with an innovative analysis toolkit, extensive knowledge sharing and through assisted interaction with local public and private stakeholders. Dr. Szabó, an expert at the Institute of Advanced Studies (iASK), the Lead Partner of the project, cited good examples in Kőszeg (Hungary), ’s-Hertogenbosch (The Netherlands) and Waterford (Ireland) on how local government, local businesses, civic organizations and academia work together to find new solutions amongst the new challenges.
For further information, please contact: Dr. Mariann Szabó, iASK (Institute of Advanced Studies Kőszeg), [email protected]; interregeurope.eu/localflavours
First Local Stakeholder Group meeting in Harghita County, Romania
10 July 2020
Harghita County Council participates in the project entitled Local Flavours, within the Interreg Europe program, and axes on the autenthic tourism development through the revival of cultural „flavours”. Taking into consideration the objectives of the project, in Harghita county the Szekler traditional costume was selected as local „flavour” .
The Harghita National Folk Ensemble created a tradition by organizing on the day before the Thousand Szekler Girls Festival, the event called the Szekler Traditional Costume Day in 2017. This years event, in 2020, even if the situation was particular due to the pandemics, the event was not cancelled, because each interested people had the opportunity to join individually and safely to the call. So we encouraged all those with Szekler (and not only!) folk costumes owner to put on their clothes or some of their clothes on 3rd of July, set off or stay at home – according to what each person did and find a moment to share with us and everyone. The point is to wear the folk costume.
The local stakeholder group members participation in the implementation of the project activities is important, therefore is welcomed that so many people honoured the meeting with their presence and all the areas of specialization were represented (ADR Centru – Managing Authority, public institution, cultural and educational institutions, program organizers, specialists in the field, costume sewers, value preservers, regional representatives, manufacture managers, folk costume producers, members of the project implementation unit, press representatives).
The main topic of the meeting was the inventory of the problems in the field of the Szekler folk costume and inventory of the solutions. Our aim is to improve the selected domain, to lead it into a safe direction and to let live. Mrs. Zonda Erika mentioned that the Folk Costume Assistance Program is implemented since several years, and within this we observed that there are some anomalies, which have to be solved and then we were thinking to lead them into the right direction. Many people are happy to wear the Szekler folk costume, but there appeared also „scam costumes”, „uniforms”, and not always the authentic costums are weared, the applicants prefer rather quantity than quality. This is not good, even dangerous, because these types of Szekler costumes can be inherited further, forgetting the characteristics of real, authentic Szekler folk costumes.
Within the meeting there were listed some problems, such as: lack of the folk costumes; confection of costumes, which are not authentic; wearing not adequate footwear with the folk costume; lack of consultation; lack of the quality raw materials; lack of costume sewers; lack of manufacturers of character shoes and boots; lack of saving authentic folk costumes; lack of traditional folk costume shops; lack of folk costume renters; lack of training and career guidance.
Regarding solutions: the establishment of the manufactures would be a solution, where all the process of the folk costume manufacturing and valorization could be followed step by step, could be visited and even tried.
It was unanimously stated that the main emphasis should be on training, two types of training are proposed – training for children and adult training (lifelong learning, training for the unemployed, retraining for those aged 40-50). At the same time, more emphasis should be placed on strengthening identity awareness among both young people and adults.
3rd online meeting & 4th SG meeting
8 July 2020
The main topics of the meeting:
Place telling toolkit
Story map
Review of the 2nd semester (output indicators & preparation of the next partner reports)
Steering Group meeting – decision about the next online / personal meetings
From idea to successful tourism product
7 July 2020
On second project period Riga Planning region organized online seminar about small and medium size tourism regional development “From idea to successful tourism product”. Overall in the seminar did participate 40+ participants from different organizations including municipalities. Valuable experiences and inspirational stories were shared by industry representatives of region. Project thematical expert Edgar Razinskis presented the latest results of project survey by local stakeholders. The Riga Tourism Development Bureau presented the developed plan to reduce the impact of the pandemic on the economic consequences by September, as well as the city’s tourism hackathon and communication campaign “Riga is not Riga without you”. On second block of seminar Several representatives of the Pieriga tourism industry shared their advice – inspiration stories from tourism product developers who have been able to attract the attention of tourists in an innovative way.
The seminar provided an opportunity to listen and learn about:
– How to attract travel agencies to your tourism product?
– How to include an educational dimension in your product?
– How to successfully advertise on social networks?
– How to attract customers through the TripAdvisor platform?
– How to organize unusual concerts in a green meadow, attracting residents also from other regions of Latvia?
The first Local Stakeholder meeting in Zagreb, Croatia
6 July 2020
The first meeting of the project Interreg Europe Local Flavours project was held on 6th of July, where the representatives of the Croatian Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Development and EU Funds, and the Institute for Tourism participated.
At the meeting, participators were introduced to the current status of the project and the activities carried out, in order to find an appropriate methodology for developing an action plan.
2nd Thematic online meeting
17 June 2020
Main topics:
action planning in the post-Covid era (involvement of local stakeholders) – the Waterford example
restarting tourism – experience sharing on tools and ideas
partners’ short summary about their progress on redesign
discussion on possibilities and realization of narration and placemaking
Thematic online meeting incl. group sessions
19 May 2020
As a new project element, the Local Flavours partners organize monthly thematic online meetings starting with parallel group discussions of three or two partners; together with the responsible thematic experts, one member of each iASK and University of Bologna; in a group rotation scheme, i.e. the groups of three or two are different in each occasion.
The first topics for the discussion are: revised objectives (of Covid-19, for 2021-2027), revised tools, stakeholder groups, promoters and limitations, role of the public, with way of their involvement.
After the discussions in small groups and a short break, a plenary session will follow. The groups present their common findings, learnings, conclusions followed by a plenary discussion.
2nd online meeting & 3rd SG meeting
21 April 2020
Main topics:
Management issues: status of the project reports & the 1st Progress Report
Communication tasks
Good practices – programme requirements
3rd Steering Group meeting
Upcoming events / webinars
1st Thematic Summit in Kőszeg – POSTPONED!!!
24-26 March 2020
iASK, as Lead Partner of the project will host this event introducing the institute and the KRAFT-programme to the 8 project partners from all around Europe. The core of the meeting will be the overview of the project progress and the introduction of the rules of reporting activities, policy changes and good practices. The partners are going to discuss these issues after completing some practical exercises and they will have the opportunity to share their good experiences and the difficulties of the project implementation with each other.
LSG kick-off-meeting in Waterford, Ireland
14 February 2020
Waterford City and County Council host their first Local Flavours LSG meeting in the historic Curraghmore House, Waterford on Valentine’s Day.
LSG kick-off-meeting in Savonlinna, Finland
31 January 2020
Savonlinna Development Services Ltd. hosted its LSG kick-off-meeting in the town hall of Savonlinna on January 31st.
The invitation was sent to more than 30 potential stakeholders, but 7 stakeholders participated the meeting. Few stakeholders informed that they cannot take part in the event, but they are nevertheless interested in Local Flavours. The stakeholder groups attending the meeting were mainly non-profit organizations, but the town of Savonlinna and the National Board of Antiquities were also represented.
The meeting was opened with the presentation of the project manager and the financial/communication manager. After that the project manager presented shortly the concept of the Interreg Europe programme and the Local Flavours project itself.
In the next step the stakeholders introduced themselves to others. Then they were given a questionnaire in order to collect general data about the organizations and their involvement in projects which relate to cultural heritage. They could also indicate, if they have any ideas for new projects, previous experience in projects with cultural heritage or if they are looking for new partners for co-operation.
The rest of the event was used for free discussion, which proved to be very fruitful. It turned out that several representants are actually dealing with the same issues. After finding this out, tangible measures can be taken to join the similar and parallel activities of different operators. This way the elaboration of same issues will be more effective and productive. Some similarities with the international project partners were surprisingly discovered already now, which is a good basis for knowledge exchange. The project team will continue to inform the stakeholders about the upcoming events, co-operation possibilities etc.
LSG kick-off meeting in Riga, Latvia
29 January 2020
On January 29th, the first Local Stakeholder meeting (LSG) of project Local Flavours took place in Riga Planning Region. The main aim was to familiarize the participants with each other and to identify existing tourism objects in the Riga planning region in order to create an up-to-date joint tourism offer.
In the first part of the meeting, the project’s lead expert S. Skudra and the project coordinator K. Potapova introduced the project objective and its main activities, as well as the functions of the region and the main development planning documents.
In the second part of the meeting, the thematic expert E. Ražinskis invited the participants to a discussion, describing the current tourism trends in the region and directed the discussion on the evaluation of the potential of good practice.
At the end of the meeting, the participants agreed on a collaboration where the thematic expert identifies good practices and, through interviews, identifies the potential for developing the region’s overall tourism offer.
The collaborative results will be used to develop the project action plan.
Kick-off meeting in Vittorio Veneto, Italy
15 -17 October 2019
1st Interregional & Steering Group Meeting
The kick-off meeting of the INTERREG EUROPE Local Flavours project took place in Vittorio Veneto, Italy in October 2019. The partners from 9 institutions in 8 countries (Hungary, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, Finland, The Netherlands, Ireland and Romania) have started the first discussions about the future cooperation and the implementation of the project.Harghita County Council, Romania
Municipality of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands
Waterford City and County Council, Ireland
Savonlinna Development Services Ltd., Finland
Municipality of Vittorio Veneto, Italy
Riga Planning Region, Latvia
Institute for Tourism, Croatia
Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Italy
INTERREG EUROPE Local Flavours Project
