European Heritage Days are proud to announce this year’s heritage-inspired exploration of common values by the young European heritage enthusiasts!

European Heritage Makers Week is designed with the idea of encouraging young people to discover, appreciate, embrace, record and share some of the most powerful dimensions of local, national and international heritage that translate to European common cultural values.

The Origins of the European Heritage Makers Week   

Following the success of the previous, pilot initiative in the European Year of Cultural Heritage, The European Heritage Makers Week 2019 is aiming at becoming an all-encompassing, yearly European youth event. Originating in Finland in 2013 as a part of the national programme for the European Cultural Environment Days, it was soon recognised as a creative and sustainable European initiative that would provide awareness and education to young students and school children to become active observers of and participants in the cultural heritage that surrounds them, and to engage in the international conversation with their European peers.

Who can participate 

Children and young people between 12 and 18 years of age, living in one of the participating European countries in the European Heritage Makers Week initiative, are invited to share their take on all things European and become #HeritageMakers. Any historical, cultural or natural local site, that inspires the creative genius in young heritage explorers can be a part of the story. Or they can find inspiration in intangible heritage like social practices, events, traditional craftmanship. And considering this year the common theme for European Heritage Days is Arts and Entertainment, sources of inspiration should be limitless. 

So far the countries taking part in the initiative in 2019 include: Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Iceland, Latvia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Russian Federation, Serbia, Spain and Ukraine. However, the list is not final as some other countries are expected to join as well. Interested participants from the countries that are not engaging in the initiative this year, are invited to write to the EHD’s at jep-ehd@coe.int and they will be connected with their National Coordinators.  

In order to be able to share their heritage story with Europe, participants need to be sure they:

• Are between the ages of 12 to 18 at the date of the submission of the stories
• Have their parents or legal custodians help them within the submission process
• Check the application rules in their country
• Upload one digital image or a link to a video together with their name and age, and a short description of their European heritage story (in English or in their native language)

Story guidelines

An original and engaging #HeritageMakers story should encompass some of the ideas summarised in the questions bellow:

• What story of Europe can you see in your cultural heritage environment?
• What is the most interesting feature and is it unique to your cultural environment or shared with other countries?
• What is European heritage for you?
• What does the story tell about cultural diversity in Europe?
• What does the story tell about shared Europe?
• How do you present the story in pictures and words?

Recognitions and awards for European Heritage Makers

Aside from being recognised as a national and European Heritage Maker, participants will have their stories shared across EHDs portal and social media channels, and 10 of the most creative storytellers will be awarded with a visit to Strasbourg in November. There they would be able to enjoy in the beauty of the capital of Europe while sharing experiance with fellow #HeritageMakers from other countries.

Dates to Mark in Your Calendar

With the ceremonial part of the event taking place in the week between 5th and 9th May, to mark the Europe Day celebrated by the Council of Europe and European Union, a number of introductory and selection events will be taking place from March to November according to the outlined schedule.

18 February 2019: Launch Date. Schools, educational institutions, clubs, associations, communities, cultural institutions and centres work together with creative communities on promoting the initiative and motivating young people to provide their creative input.

18 April – 1 May 2019: Storytelling experience, explorations and upload of the stories. The celebration of the World Heritage Day and the International Day for Monuments and Sites on 18 April marks the beginning of heritage exploration and serves as inspirational foundation for young people to develop their stories in the form of pictures, drawings, illustrations, photographs, graphics and comics.

5 – 9 May 2019: European Heritage Makers Week. The upload and promotion of stories.

1 June 2018: Preselection of #HeritageMakers at national level. Five of the most inspiring and creative stories from each participating country, preselected by the National Coordinators, will be sent to the European Heritage Days Secretariat for final selection. The preselected stories will also be highlighted on the EHD portal, along with other submitted pieces.

1 July 2019: Final selection of #HeritageMakers at European level. The final selection consists of of ten Heritage Makers’ stories, selected by the EHDs jury. The top ten Heritage Makers will have their stories promoted across EHD portal, newsletter and social media channels and will get invited for a cultural visit to Strasbourg in November.

November: #HeritageMakers visit to Strasbourg. To top an exciting heritage season off, #HeritageMakers will be provided with an unforgettable learning and inspiring experience in Strasbourg. Aside from getting to know each other and discovering some of the most impressive landmarks of the beautiful Strasbourg, the selected #HeritageMakers will be able to learn more about diverse European cultural heritage by taking part in conversation with peers. 

Being one of the key initiatives from European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 and coming to life for the second time, European Heritage Makers Week promises to put down roots as one of the most inspiring youth oriented initiatives. By giving voice to the young heritage explorers across Europe to participate in the cross-border cultural conversation, the initiative inspires future heritage activism and promotes diverse local heritage.