The REACH project (H2020 CULT-COOP-06-2017) contributes to unlock the potential of people to engage in culture and cultural heritage in order to foster creativity and innovation and, thereby, to empower citizens to face the immense and rapid changes taking place in Europe and Beyond. The pilot project in Hungary is focusing on the largest transnational minority group in Europe, the Roma communities. The aim of the minority heritage pilot is to show how the institutionalisation of their (re)appropriated Cultural Heritage can result in their economic and social revival and it is organized on the basis of a close cooperation between the researchers of Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest and the representatives of various cultural institutions who are working on different aspects of Roma culture and art.
The aim of this local encounter is to discover together what participatory tools and methods are available to preserve, re-interpret and manage the Hungarian Roma cultural heritage, also in order to sustain it for the younger generations. The already existing best practices may help us to understand what advantages and difficulties arise in the practice of making a democratic and accessible heritage.

The host of the event is the Roma Country House in Hodász, founded in 2001, which is the first similar institution in Hungary. The country house, located in an extremely deprived sub-region in North-Eastern Hungary is not only undertaking an eminent role in preserving the Roma traditions but also in local community-building and in ensuring diverse artistic and professional activities to the children and teenagers of the village.
The representatives of Roma cultural institutions, together with local and national actors of tourism and cultural economy are aiming to tackle the question of long-term economic sustainability of those initiatives that are concerned with the preservation of the mostly invisible Roma heritage.

When: 9 October 2018, 12.00 AM-5.00 PM

Where: Hodász Roma Country House, 4334 Hodász, Ady Endre Street 26

Host: Melinda Rézműves, director of the Roma Country House in Hodász

Participants of the REACH project, organizers: Eszter György and Gábor Oláh (Eötvös Loránd University, Atelier Department for European Historiography and Social Sciences)

Participants:
István Gábor Molnár, president of Roma Minority Self-Government, Újpest; founder and director of Roma Local History Collection, Újpest
Fanny Hajdú, production manager, Pro Progressione
Balázs Váradi, architect
Rita Szerencsés, project manager, MOME EcoLab
Natália Oszkó-Jakab, director, Valley of Arts Festival

12.00 AM-1.00 PM: introduction and visit of the Country House and the Community Building

1.00 PM-2.00 PM: lunch

2.00 PM-4.00 PM: round-table about the questions of sustainability of the Roma cultural heritage. Introduction of the present best practices (what is the profile of the cultural initiative, what are the difficulties that arise in practice; aspects of economic sustainability, the possibilities of touristic involvement)