Inauguration UNESCO Chair – 25 March 2009 Tijl Vereenooghe

A bottom-up initiative 3 heritage NGOs in Flanders Heemkunde Vlaanderen vzw VCM-Contactforum voor Erfgoedverenigingen vzw FARO. Vlaams steunpunt voor cultureel erfgoed vzw Starting point = CoE declaration on the role of voluntary organizations in the field of cultural heritage (Portoroz, 2001)

Inventory of Heritage Organisations in Europe

Heritage, what’s in a name? In the broad sense of the word Archaeological heritage Underwater heritage - underwater archaeology Immovable heritage - built heritage historical monuments castles historical dwellings fortifications mills... Landscape heritage landscapes, parks, gardens Mobile heritage - transport heritage maritime heritage rolling heritage riding heritage flying heritage Industrial and scientific heritage Religious heritage Military heritage Musical heritage Gastronomic heritage Funerary heritage Museum heritage - movable heritage Museum items and collections Museology Artistic heritage Agricultural and rural heritage Living agricultural heritage Local genetic heritage Oral and intangible heritage Folk culture Dialectology - historical linguistics Traditional crafts Traditional costumes Heritage performers - circus, popular theatre, puppet theatre Heritage performers - folk dance, folk music Festivals - parades Ethnology Folklore Traditional sports and games Archival heritage Documentary heritage Digital heritage Audiovisual heritage Re-enactment - living history Heritage education History Local and regional history Migration history Social history Economic history Cultural history Political history Oral history Toponymy Genealogy Numismatics Heraldry Cartography Heritage volunteers Cyber culture …

European Conference on Civil Society Organisations active in the Field of Heritage 135 international participants and 45 local participants will represent the diversity of the European civil society for heritage NGOs from at least 25 European countries Stimulate smaller NGOs to be present Focus on bringing people together and on exchanging ideas and experiences European Conference on Civil Society Organisations active in the Field of Heritage GOALS 135 international participants and 45 local participants will represent the diversity of the European civil society for heritage NGOs from at least 25 European countries Stimulate smaller NGOs to be present Focus on bringing people together and on exchanging ideas and experiences European Conference on Civil Society Organisations active in the Field of Heritage

1. A question of scale: local/micro - Awareness about the ‘smallest’ best practices - Who adapts to who ? (cfr. microfunding) - Contractdriven process ?

2. Practical questions for active citizens - Practical guidance and information - Manual/guidebook ? - Horizontal networking (‘bottom-bottom’): need for indepth, quality-networks (good practices!)

3. Active citizens and professionals ? Ideally : complementary synergy - Risk of a top-down in disguise ? - ‘heritage process’ : political context and criteria governing local choices ?

- 4. Involving younger generations ? - Younger people embedding meaning/values to heritage themselves - importance of education as creating awareness (seduction) : sparks for future ignition - role of new technologies ?

5. Activism and compromise: volunteers and government complementary/symbiotic relationship - NGO’s need to guard priorities/corebusiness - Believe in the value of your ‘stakeholdership’ in a quality- driven democratic decision making process - Gov. Needs to take ‘active citizenship’ seriously for effectively solving conflicts of interest

6. Heritage care and development Obvious importance - Danger of catering the wrong interests (instrumentalization) ? - Danger of a ‘detachment’ from a communities’ true heritage

7. Local worlds and global village Local identity, sense of place as key-issue (complementary to globalization) - Trap of cells of anti-modernist nostalgia ? - Does local identity/active local citizenship as a tool of (intercultural) dialogue work in practice ?

8. Motivating our volunteers Series of different motivations/intentions - Understanding our volunteers - Awareness of differences between political cultures, different contexts