Digital meets Culture

More than 30 participants attended this meeting in the village of Fâchin, and a special focus was dedicated to the pilot project conducted by Bibracte within the framework of INCULTUM

2022 review and 2023 outlook for Bibracte pilot project at the General Assembly of the Grand Site de France Bibracte – Morvan des Sommets

Text Flore Coppin, picture courtesy of Bibracte.

On 14 December 2022, Bibracte organised the end-of-year meeting of the 12 village communities involved in the Grand Site de France label. More than 30 participants attended this meeting in the village of Fâchin, including elected representatives, partners of the label, members of the Grand Site de France working groups, representatives of French hiking federation, the area’s tourist offices, etc. During this session, a special focus was dedicated to the pilot project conducted by Bibracte within the framework of INCULTUM.

A review of the year 2022 was presented by the INCULTUM coordinator at Bibracte, and the representatives of the tourism and agriculture working groups introduced their actions carried out in synergy with the project.

photo courtesy Bibracte, December 2022

Between October and December 2022, a survey was carried out by the INCULTUM coordinator and a sociologist to qualitatively assess the impact of the pilot project’s actions among the members of the Grand Site de France’s rural paths working group. This survey was also a way to brainstorm on the strategic orientations of the pilot. Interviews were carried out in the 12 villages with around 30 members of the working group. It confirmed the relatively good satisfaction of the members and enabled us to identify priority areas for action in the coming months.

In 2022, the emergence of the heritage community around the rural paths was thus confirmed by the mobilisation and awareness through its various actions (inventory of the paths network, cultural events, working groups, etc.) of more than 400 inhabitants of the territory. The reactivation of the Common of the rural paths confirmed the collective awareness of this shared heritage and the will to put in place management rules and sustainable means to ensure its preservation, in particular via the construction of a shared management plan.

During the meeting, the main milestones of the 2023 action plan were presented by the three above-mentioned working groups leaders:

Management of the common heritage:

Co-construction of a management plan for the common heritage of rural paths in order to anchor the management of the heritage in Municipal Councils. Objective: finalise the inventory of the network of paths and list the priority paths. This shared management plan will integrate the landscape and heritage issues of the Grand Site de France label. At the level of the working group, the aim will be to create a platform for sharing good practice and pooling resources and tools.
Organisation of a second session of the summer heritage workcamp at Bibracte in August 2023 as a continuation of the work begun in 2022

Tourism project:

In October 2022, teams from the Morvan Regional Nature Park carried out new technical checks on the new cultural route developed within INCULTUM. Technical and safety recommendations were sent to the 12 villages to improve the itinerary, their implementation will condition the launch and the promotion of the route in the coming weeks.
Work on the homologation « Grande Randonnée de Pays » label with the French Hiking Federation
Development of a marketing plan and communication tools through participatory methods with the stakeholders and the other working groups
Organisation of trainings and eductours for tourism stakeholders
Launch of the Evalto 2023-2024 survey by the Bibracte tourism observatory

Animation of the heritage community:

In 2022, 6 themed walks were organised in 7 of the territory’s 12 villages, mobilising more than 300 participants: inhabitants, visitors and members of the heritage community
The 2023 programme of the heritage community will be discussed at a meeting of representatives of the 12 villages with the partner association CHEMINS on January 27^th 2023

In 2023, the three multisectoral working groups will intensify their collaboration with a view to consolidating the service offer in the destination. This service offer currently has indeed a certain weakness, particularly in terms of satisfying the itinerant hiking market segment: few dedicated accommodation facilities, lack of small-scale catering facilities, problems of access and mobility.

In this respect, the work of the agriculture working group and its future economic and environmental interest group (a French Ministry of Agriculture mechanism designed to promote the organisation of agricultural players around collective sustainable projects), with the creation of connections between the agricultural economy and the local economy (farm reception, short sales, etc.) – will be one of the main areas of work for the Bibracte pilot project in 2023.

Download the PPT presentation shown at the meeting (in French)
Download the mental map of the brainstorming carried out by the rural paths working group in the framework of the survey conducted at the end of 2022
View the map of the prototype of the “Tour du Morvan des Sommets” circuit

Presented the project in continuity with “Volterra 2022 Human Regeneration”

Volterra: a stable theatre in prison

The presentation of the project – Courtesy of Municipality of Volterra

Volterra, studied by UNCHARTED as a main case of WP5 experimental and demonstrations, continues to carry on the process of ‘Human Regeneration’ started with ‘Volterra 2022’ for engagement with heritage and innovation of culture.

Yesterday 26th of January 2023, the public presentation for the project of a Stable Theatre in the Prison of Volterra was held. The event took place a few days after the ‘Leone d’Oro’ for the career awarded by ‘Biennale Teatro 2023’ to Armando Punzo, artistic director and founder of Compagnia della Fortezza, the theatre company active since 1988 inside the prison of Volterra.

The project, promoted by the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobility, comes from the need to create, inside the prison of Volterra, a space suitable for the performance of theatrical activities and professional training for prisoners. The project is curated by Mario Cucinella Architects, in partneship with Compagnia della Fortezza.

The event, which was attended by many representatives of political and cultural institutions and prominent representatives of regional and national authorities, opened with an intense theatrical interpretation, performed by some actors of Compagnia della Fortezza, to inaugurate the new theatre for Volterra, first in the world inside a prison.

The project of the theatre – Courtesy of Municipality of Volterra

deadline for 1-pager abstract is 28/02/2023 - conference takes place in Alicante from 28 August to 01 September 2023

Submissions open for INCULTUM special session at ESRA congress 2023

From 28-08 to 01-09 in Alicante takes place the important ERSA congress, focused this year on “Urban challenges and sustainable technological revolution“. It is a very large gathering with hundreds of participants and a rich programme of sessions on various interesting topics. Among the special sessions, one is organized by the INCULTUM project with coordination of Kamila Borsekova (Matej Bel University), the team at Uppsala University and Antonella Fresa (Promoter).

Sc69: The role of participatory approaches in tourism and sustainable development

The concept of the session is presented HERE. This special session aims to empower the discussion on the role of participatory approaches in tourism and sustainable development, both from a theoretical and empirical perspective. The contributions should be focused, but not limited to: identification of different types of participatory models and approaches in tourism and sustainable development; drivers and barriers that account for the success or failure of participatory models; outcomes of participatory models that are based the on co-creation of innovative tools in relation to the expected benefits for the involved stakeholders; policy-oriented contributions on synergies between participatory models and innovative tool arrangements.

The session accepts 1-page abstracts with deadline 28/02/2023.

To submit an abstract it is possible to register from HERE, selecting the INCULTUM special session S69 “S69 The role of participatory approaches in tourism and sustainable development

A series of informal meetings organized in the big INCULTUM consortium allows all the partners to exchange views and discussions on various topics.

INCULTUM Coffee Talk: Cultural heritage tourism websites

One challenge identified in INCULTUM project is linked to the need of creating synergies among the various partners in the large consortium, who have a lot of commonalities and differences and who need to detect development trajectories for capacity building in fostering sustainable strategies in cultural and tourist promotion of the territories.

In facts, albeit with (sometimes big) differences and specifities, each of the Pilots holds often very high skills, knowledge and expertise, which can be useful for the others and which can eventually converge in good practices, tested on field, that INCULTUM as a project aims to disseminate for the benefit of sustainable tourism and cultural heritage development.

After a series of informal progress meetings among the Pilots, the first event for the INCULTUM Coffee Talk series was held on 26 January 2023 on the topic of “Cultural heritage tourism websites“.

The meeting was led by Maurizio Toscano of EACHTRA, leader of Irish Pilot on historic graves, with the participation of the majority of project partners. Opened with an ice-breaker Q&A session, the talk aimed at discussing what makes a successful and effective website for cultural tourism information. Also, examples of well-designed websites that advertise cultural sites and initiatives were shown and discussed; as well as the requirements and the challenges that inform the design, planning and running of web resources dedicated to cultural tourism.

Limassol (Cyprus), 13th February 2023

META-PANDEMIC GLAMers – final conference

Meta-Pandemic GLAMers conference takes place on Monday 13th of February 2023 at 10.30 am (EET) at Poseidonia Beach Hotel, Limassol, Cyprus, which will mark the final event of our EU project “The GLAMers”. The project is coordinated by the Cyprus University of Technology through the UNESCO Chair on Digital Cultural Heritage in cooperation with key partners in the sector of GLAMs, which are located all over Europe and consist of a wide and complementary range of profiles:
1. A local Cypriot NGO addressing youth communities: Citizens in Power, Nicosia, Cyprus,
2. An SME on open and social learning: Web2Learn in Greece,
3. A museum of national reach: The Museum of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb, Croatia and
4. A pan-European network of cultural institutions: Michael Culture Association, Brussels, Belgium.

The event is organised as a unique moment to explore the main results of the project, but it will also be an opportunity to take stock of the post-pandemic situation of European GLAMs (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums). Therefore, significant institutions and personalities from policy, creative industry, different stakeholders and GLAMs will be actively involved and share with us their knowledge.

Key Policy makers like Mrs Themis Christophidou, Director General of the European Commission DG EAC and Dr. Yiannis Toumazis CY Deputy Minister of Culture will be present and follow up the event.

In addition, outstanding professionals such as Prof. Monika Hagedorn-Saupe, (Chair lady of the ICOM.CIDOC Scientific Committee) and Mrs Mary Véronique (Chairlady of the Europeana Aggregators Network) will be Keynote Speakers.

Among our key workshop speakers will be:
1. Dr. Tony Cassar, Manager of Digitisation and Outreach Unit at Heritage Malta,
2. Mr. Michael Klein from 7Reasons Media GmbH in Vienna, Austria,
3. Mr. Chris Vastenhoud, DPO – Kunst en Geschiedenis Museum, Brussels, Belgium, Project coordinator – eCOLLECTIONS and more outstanding presenters to follow soon.

Registration HERE.

a capacity building event, to support the process of digital transformation of the cultural heritage sector

Europeana.eu awareness and training session, Pisa and online 24th January 2023

Organized by Photoconsortium in collaboration with Europeana Foundation, this training session is dedicated to cultural heritage institutions who don’t know or know little about Europeana but would like to hear more and discover how to participate. The training was organized as part of the European Data Space for Cultural Heritage project that supports capacity building in the digital transformation of the cultural heritage sector.

The session was a hybrid event that took place in Pisa at Museo della Grafica and online via Zoom, with ca. 30 participants onsite and a peak of 48 online.

Welcomed by the Museo della Grafica Director Prof. Alessandro Tosi and local authorities, and introduced by Antonella Fresa (Photoconsortium), the training focused on various aspects:

understanding the process of aggregation, the quality requirements of the Europeana Publishing Framework, the open access approach and the copyright challenges on protected content, with talks by Ilektra Osmani and Ariadna Matas (Europeana Foundation)
learning about best practice and recommendations on 3D digitization, with information about the important EU funded Vigie Study 2020/654 about quality in 3D digitized cultural heritage coordinated by Marinos Ioannides of the Cyprus University of Technology; and a presentation about the challenges of digitizing ancient daguerreotypes in 3D by David Iglésias Franch (CRDI/Ajuntament de Girona)
exploring how the collections can be promoted and made more visible and reusable, especially in the context of education and research, with a short talk by Valentina Bachi (Photoconsortium) who also conducted a short post-session interactive survey.

All the slides presented by the speakers are available HERE.

Invito (PDF, 552 Kb)

This action is part of the European Data Space for Cultural Heritage activities, financed by the Digital Europe Programme of the European Union.

The project has had a strong participatory character, so that anyone could collaborate and learn about the importance of historical irrigation systems and contribute to the restoration of a degraded cultural landscape

The project for recovery of the Aynadamar irrigation channel in Granada continues

text and images courtesy of Elena Correa Jiménez (University of Granada).

From the Biocultural Archaeology Laboratory (MEMOLab) of the University of Granada, directed by Dr. José María Martín Civantos, we are carrying out the participatory project “Recovering the Aynadamar irrigation channel”. This action is funded by the EU H2020 project Visiting the margins: INnovative CULtural ToUrisM in European peripheries (INCULTUM), the Vice-Rectorate for University Extension and Heritage of the University of Granada, “Fundación Agua Granada and the “Cátedra Hidralia”.

Its main objective is focused on the recovery of a part of the Aynadamar irrigation channel, a canalization built in the 11th century, which originates in Fuente Grande (Alfacar) and ending in the current Albaicín (nowadays it has disappeared). Because of the historical, cultural and environmental importance of this irrigation channel, we have proposed the recovery of a section (El Fargue-Campus de Cartuja) which is currently abandoned, for its use in the Albaicín abandoned, for its use and maintenance. Not only is the irrigation channel being recovered, but also the path next to it to create a cultural trail to highlight the value of the environmental services provided by the irrigation ditches.

The Aynadamar irrigation channel is one of the most renowned in the province and the city of Granada, perhaps one of the best known along with the Royal of Granada, perhaps one of the best known, together with the “acequia Real de la Alhambra”. It was the main water supply for the city since its foundation in medieval times, at least since the 11th century. It also generated important areas of historical cultivation. The area was often linked to residences and infrastructures of great heritage value, especially in the area around the “Cercado Alto de Cartuja”, where the University Campus is located.

The project has had a strong participatory character. This was also was also one of its main characteristics, so that anyone could collaborate and learn about the importance of our historical irrigation systems and contribute to the restoration of a degraded cultural landscape of enormous interest .Over seven weekends in October and November, more than 550 volunteers took part, while during the week volunteers, while during the week more than 2,000 schoolchildren from different educational centers, from 9 to 20 years old. The recovery of the Aynadamar has not only had a great acceptance, but also an important social and media impact from local to foreign media.

We hope that the initiative will serve to give visibility to historical irrigation systems and to the irrigation communities that manage them, for their work and knowledge to the irrigation communities that manage them, for their work and knowledge and for the enormous and for the enormous amount of values and ecosystem services they provide us with from a cultural, social, agronomic and environmental point of view (https://regadiohistorico.es/argumentario).

Our historic irrigated lands are not only part of the past and our heritage, but also examples of sustainability and resilience that should be sustainability and resilience that should be harnessed to improve our present and secure our future our present and guarantee our future.

Learn more about INCULTUM Pilot 1 – Altiplano de Granada

In the very central part of the project's action plan, the first outcomes of the Pilots' activities are being shared so to derive lessons learnt that are applicable on a larger scale.

INCULTUM Pilots meet to share about their progress

ph. Pietro Masi

In order to keep the pace of Pilots’ progress in the various areas and activities, a series of online networking meetings was organized on 9-10-11 January 2023. The Pilots have a lot of commonalities and differences, and often share challenges and to-dos. For this reason the Pilots coordinator University of Granada is facilitating internal communications by informal talks.

INCULTUM has entered since few months the very central part of the action plan, and the first outcomes of the Pilots’ activities are important to be shared among the INCULTUM partners first, to then distill solutions that can raise to a more general level of scalability and become good practices to share to the entire cultural tourism sector.

The meetings were led by prof. José Maria Civantos, the project coordinator, and attended not only by the Pilots but also by the research partners in the project, to derive interesting inputs that contribute to the work in backending the INCULTUM innovative solutions experimented in the pilot sites.

Vilnius (Lithuania), 20-22 April 2023

The Complexity of History: Unpacking the Past

EuroClio’s 29th Annual Conference on “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲: 𝐔𝐧𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐭” will be held from 𝟐𝟎-𝟐𝟐 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 in 𝐕𝐢𝐥𝐧𝐢𝐮𝐬, 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚.

The annual conference of EuroClio, the International Association oh History Teachers,connects history and citizen educators from all over Europe. The three-day event offers a comprehensive programme containing a keynote lecture by Tamara Eidelman, active workshops, plenary sessions and cultural activities.

Get your tickets or learn more about the conference: https://euroclio.eu/event/29th-annual-conference-the-complexity-of-history-unpacking-the-past/

DOORS project foresees a two-stage incubation programme for museums and a comprehensive research plan with public outputs.

DOORS – Digital Incubator for Museum: 20 European museums start their digital transformation journeys

DOORS – Digital Incubator for Museum aims to set up a framework for sustainable digital transformations in the cultural sector. The project kicked off in October 2021 and will run until September 2023 conducting a two-stage incubation programme for museums and a comprehensive research plan with public outputs.

The initiators of DOORS – Digital Incubator for Museums are Ars Electronica, MUSEUM BOOSTER and Ecsite – European network of science centres and museums.

image DOORS project

Neanderthal Museum will design more complex and personalised user journeys (IMPAKT.NL [Centre for Media Culture]), services (Univerzitná knižnica Žilinskej univerzity v Žiline (University Library of the University of Žilina)) and cultural offers (Turkcell Diyalog Müzesi / Turkcell Dialogue Museum), or content for non/absent audiences (The Royal Museum of Mariemont, The National Museum of Maps and Old Books). Others seek to engage audiences with innovative visitor experiences, by building bridges between the online and onsite (The Association of Uräjärvi Mansion´s Friends, The Regional Museum Goriški muzej), bringing collections outside out of the traditional museum space (Museo Civico di Vignola “Augusta Redorici Roffi”), or augmenting the exploration of onsite collections with digital content (Arboretum Volčji Potok, Terra Sancta Museum).

Some museums will set the steppingstone for new business models to help them become more resilient and financially sustainable with unique experiences that appeal to new audiences (Computer History Museum), blueprints for digital solutions that can be adopted by other museums (Kaiser Franz Josef Museum, Muzeon – Storytelling Jewish History Museum), an E-shop to support professionals and the museum’s community (The Museum of Urban Wooden Architecture), or a wider range of services (MoLI – Museum of Literature Ireland).

The Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden of the University of Tartu addresses the importance of in-house infrastructure for digitalisation and will roll out an innovative strategy for integrating infrastructure designed to ease the digitisation of collections and create opportunities for expanding their use by reaching wider audiences.

A full list of the pilot projects and their descriptions can be found at: https://ars.electronica.art/doors/en/stage2/