InThrace – Civil engagement, integration and better management of the national intangible heritage to raise awareness of European common values – EU context, perspectives and active citizenship

Programme: Erasmus+ Programme; KA220-HED – Cooperation partnerships in higher education; Call 2023

Project coordinator: Universitatea Transilvania Din Brasov / Transylvanian University of Brasov (Romania)

Project partners: Uniwersytet Warszawski (Poland); Panepistimio Dytikis Attikis (Greece); Sveuciliste U Zagrebu (Croatia); Universidade Dos Acores (Portugal) and Pax Rhodopica Foundation (Bulgaria)

Project duration: 31/12/2023 – 29/06/2026

The general objective of InThrace is to enhance and enrich the competences of university academia to facilitate the interpretation, preservation, integration and sustainable management of the national intangible heritage in urban and suburban environment as a way to foster civic engagement, to raise awareness on the national and EU identity and to facilitate better understanding of the common EU values, principles & concept of shared future.

Specific objectives are:

• To develop skills & knowledge of university academia to develop, teach & apply models for interpretation, preservation and better integration of the common EU & national intangible heritage in urban landscape and in the social & cultural calendar as a way to preserve & promote national identity.

• To enable & promote higher degree of cohesion of the intangible heritage in the common EU perspective as a successful example of harmonious co-existence of different ethnic groups within one common EU family.

• To create a socialisation model that will allow for bridging of cultural diversities, promote cultural inclusion and enhance the understanding of the EU values & principles.

• To develop, discuss & exchange good practices to expand & improve the quality of tourism experience through integration of the common EU & national intangible heritage in the touristic offer.

• To demonstrate the potential of appropriately integrated, interpreted & managed intangible tangible heritage to increase attachment to community/country/EU, to enhance cultural awareness & improve intercultural communicational skills.

• To utilise the potential of the intangible heritage to keep & preserve the cultural identity of the territory and to safeguard this legacy for the future generations.

• To support the partners to create new or to develop/improve existing programmes & training courses for specialists in the civil engagement & management of the intangible legacy in the urban environment and social life of the city & region.

The main target group is the representatives of the university academia with interest in socialization, integration, promotion & exploitation of intangible heritage & in development and management of related touristic product. The main project target group includes: university professors, junior and senior assistants, university researchers, postdoctoral scholars, PhD students working in InThrace topic, etc.

Project results:

1) Methodological Frame – it provides the main structure & pathway for the content elaboration of the training pack docs & the Model.

2) Training Pack with 2 complementary documents:

• Handbook on integration of intangible heritage – it is a highly specialized book with applicable approaches for interpretation & inclusion of the intangible heritage in the urban environment and in the social life & calendar of the city/ region in order to maximise its potential for creating value for the local communities in economic, cultural & spiritual perspective.

• Manual on intangible heritage – it collects various real-time & practical case-studies and examples in addition to the more theoretical content in the Handbook. It also includes specifically created short videos of good examples of intangible heritage that are well integrated in the touristic offer and/or in the urban environment of the city/region and/or social life of the local community.

3) Model for interpretation, integration & management of intangible heritage – It provides opportunities for increasing the investments and professional qualification of the university staff to understand & take practical steps towards better socialisation & integration of the intangible heritage in the urban & sub-urban environment as well as in the social life & events’ calendar of the city/region

4) E-learning platform – it enables user-friendly & intuitive use of InThrace materials in an online environment. It hosts all the InThrace materials in a nice & easy-to-find way.

5) The e-Library is a databank with resources relevant to InThrace topic. It includes interactive tools, materials & multimedia as well as passive materials like articles, researches, etc.

Project website: in process of development