Efforts to sustain communities in the engagement with their tangible and intangible heritage are always welcome and a priority for EC and the European Union at large. For this reason, various projects are funded that deal with protecting, engaging and disseminating local heritage. One of these, which recently WEAVE met for establishing mutual cooperation, is ECHO II.

“Allegro”. 2021. Artist: Remzije Lloga. Source: ECHO II website. License: CC BY-SA 4.0.

ECHO II: Traditions in Transition is a project co-founded by Creative Europe Culture which emanates from a deeper need to support and realize the concept of the EU motto “united in diversity”. In particular, traditions constitute parts of local identities that are defined by the use, re-use, change and transformation of traditions in the course of community life. These traditions shape and are shaped by the group and significantly determine their culture. The existence of significant traditions is a common element among European people. Re-exploring and revisiting traditions through a new lens can benefit communities and mobilise them in order to reconsider existing perceptions of static traditions that need to be protected and reintroduce these traditions in their group life. ECHO II focuses on Traditions in Transition, as an alternative viewpoint to the established concept that tradition is fixed and in need of protection and as such we have to preserve it as an object of musealisation. Alternatively, ECHO II sustains that in order to keep alive local traditions that are important for the ingroups, it is more fruitful to understand and accept their changing, dynamic character according to the each- time needs of the communities. ECHO II aims at tightening and promoting the link between artistic creation and local traditions, enabling contemporary artistic creation based on cultural elements from different European communities

Website: https://echo-ii.eu