European Young Heritage Professionals Forum to begin in Zadar, Croatia

28 young heritage professionals with diverse backgrounds varying from ethnomusicology to architecture and visual computing technologies will come together for the European Young Heritage Professionals Forum to address for the first time both tangible heritage and intangible cultural heritage and to explore the potential synergies and challenges of their protection and safeguarding in the European context.

During five days of tailored activities in a peer-to-peer learning environment and accompanied by experts in both the 1972 and the 2003 UNESCO Conventions, the young professionals will be able to further their knowledge on World Heritage and living heritage in Europe and the world, to enhance their management and communication skills, and to collaboratively develop their own projects. By bringing together their visions for heritage and their interests in youth, buildings at risk or socially responsive design, the young heritage professionals will also envision ways to amplify their voices for the protection and safeguarding of heritage. At the end of the Forum, the participants are encouraged to become “Cultural Heritage Messengers” in their respective countries and to actively engage in raising awareness about the importance of looking after our shared heritage.

The European Young Heritage Professionals Forum takes place in Zadar, Croatia, from 20 to 24 May 2019 and is hosted by the Croatian Commission for UNESCO and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, and is developed in close cooperation with the NGO Diadrasis. The Forum is organized in the framework of the UNESCO-EU joint project 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage: Engaging Youth for an Inclusive and Susainable Europe and is part of the World Heritage Education Programme.