EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award 2018 for Finnish educational programme Culture Leap

Brussels / The Hague, 15 May 2018– The winners of the 2018 EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards, Europe’s top honour in the field, were announced today by the European Commission and Europa Nostra, the leading European heritage network. The 29 laureates from 17 countries have been recognised for their impressive accomplishments in conservation, research, dedicated service, and education, training and awareness-raising. Among this year’s winners is Culture Leap: Educational Programme, Finland. As a contribution to the European Year of Cultural Heritage, this year’s Awards put special emphasis on the European added value of the selected heritage achievements. The winners will be honoured at a high-profile Award ceremony on 22 June in Berlin, during the first ever European Cultural Heritage Summit.

Citizens from around Europe and the rest of the world can now vote online for the Public Choice Awardand mobilise support for the winning achievement(s) from their own or another European country.

“I warmly congratulate this year’s “heritage champions” who have been selected as winners of the EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards. We are deeply impressed by the exceptional skills, creativity, commitment and generosity of so many heritage professionals, volunteers and supporters from all over Europe. They deserve every praise and further support. Our Award winners are living proof that our cultural heritage is far more than the memory of our past; it is key to understanding our present and a resource for our future. We must therefore use the European Year of Cultural Heritage to recognise the value of our shared cultural heritage for the future of Europe!” stated Plácido Domingo, the renowned opera singer and President of Europa Nostra.

“Cultural heritage in all its different forms is one of Europe’s most precious assets. It builds bridges between people and communities as well as between the past and the future. It is central to our identity as Europeans and also has a vital role in driving social and economic development. I congratulate the winners of the 2018 EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards and their teams for their exceptional and innovative work. Thanks to their talent and commitment, numerous European cultural heritage treasures have been safeguarded and revitalised. And importantly, their work enables people from all backgrounds to discover, explore and engage with our rich cultural heritage, fully in the spirit of the European Year of Cultural Heritage that we are celebrating in 2018,” said Tibor Navracsics, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport.

Independent Juries of experts examined a total of 160 applications, submitted by organisations and individuals from 31 countries across Europe, andselected the winners.

The winners will be celebrated at the European Heritage Awards Ceremony, co-hosted by European Commissioner Tibor Navracsicsand Maestro Plácido Domingo, on the evening of 22 June at the Berlin Congress Centre. Seven Grand Prix laureates (each of whom will receive €10,000) and the Public Choice Award winner, chosen from among this year’s winning projects, will be announced during the Ceremony.

The European Heritage Awards Ceremony will be honoured by the participation of Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, in his capacity as the Patron of the European Year of Cultural Heritage in Germany. The Ceremony will be attended by 1,000 people, ranging from high-level officials from EU Institutions and Member States to leading representatives of heritage organisations from all over Europe.

The winners will present their heritage accomplishments at the Excellence Fair on 21 June at the Allianz Forum. They will also contribute to various other events of the European Cultural Heritage Summit “Sharing Heritage – Sharing Values” from 18-24 June in Berlin. Co-hosted by Europa Nostra, the German Cultural Heritage Committee (DNK) and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK), the Summit aims to promote an ambitious European Agenda and Action Plan for Cultural Heritage as a lasting legacy of the European Year of Cultural Heritage.

Winners: (listed alphabetically by country)

Category Conservation

St. Wenceslas Rotunda, Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC

Poul Egede’s Mission House, Ilimanaq, Greenland, DENMARK

Dr. Barner’s Sanatorium, Braunlage/Harz, GERMANY

The Winzerberg: Royal Vineyard at Potsdam-Sanssouci, GERMANY

Byzantine Church of Hagia Kyriaki, Naxos, GREECE

Collaborative Conservation of the Basilica at St. Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai, EGYPT-GREECE-ITALY

The Botanical Garden of the National Palace ofQueluz, Sintra, PORTUGAL

The Pavilion of Prince Miloš at the Bukovička Spa, Arandjelovac, SERBIA

The Bač Fortress, Bač, SERBIA

Façade of San Ildefonso College, Alcalá de Henares, SPAIN

Sorolla’s Sketches of Spain, Valencia, SPAIN

Category Research

EPICO: European Protocol in Preventive Conservation, coordinated in Versailles, FRANCE

Textile from Georgia, Tbilisi, GEORGIA

CultLab3D: Automated Scanning Technology for 3D Digitisation, Darmstadt, GERMANY

Research and Cataloguing of the State Art Collection, Belgrade, SERBIA

Category Dedicated Service

The Wonders of Bulgaria Campaigners, BULGARIA

Mr. Stéphane Bern, FRANCE

Association of the International Private Committees for the Safeguarding of Venice, ITALY

The Hendrick de Keyser Association, THE NETHERLANDS

Mrs. Tone Sinding Steinsvik, NORWAY

Private Water Owners of Argual and Tazacorte, Canary Islands, SPAIN

Category Education, Training and Awareness-Raising

Ief Postino: Belgium and Italy Connected by Letters, BELGIUM

Culture Leap: Educational Programme, FINLAND

National Institute of Cultural Heritage: Educational and Training Programme for Conservators, FRANCE

The Alka of Sinj Museum, CROATIA

The Rising from Destruction Campaign, coordinated in Rome, ITALY

Open Monuments, ITALY

GeoCraftNL: Minecraft Heritage Project by GeoFort, THE NETHERLANDS

Plečnik House, SLOVENIA

A Europa Nostra Award is also presented to a remarkable heritage achievement from a European country not taking part in the EU Creative Europe programme.

Category Conservation

Zografyon Greek School, Istanbul, TURKEY

Culture Leap: Educational Programme, FINLAND
The Culture Leap project aimed to increase the amount of Cultural Education Plans in Finland, a public programme for schools which ensures that all children and young people get the chance to experience their cultural heritage. The elaborate project produced an online tool that enables municipalities to independently prepare a Cultural Education Plan based on their local and regional heritage. The tool is freely available to all, and it exists in three languages (Finnish, Swedish and English).

“This project offers a relatively low-cost but high impact framework that is applicable across Europe for educational planning which has cultural values at its heart”, the jury affirmed.

Culture Leap was developed with the cooperation of the Association of Cultural Heritage Education in Finland and the Association of Finnish Children’s Cultural Centres. The main partners were the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, the Finnish National Board of Education and the Arts Promotion Centre Finland. The project was funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture. In addition, the Arts Promotion Centre supported the organisation of a workshop tour.
Before the project, just 43 of the 311 municipalities in Finland had cultural education plans in place. As of 2017, and as a result of this project, there were 90 plans established in municipalities around Finland with a further 50 plans in preparation. Workshops have been organised in 15 locations, reaching 83 municipalities and an audience of 450 people. Further workshops are now being organised with the Finnish Network of Children’s Cultural Centres in areas that do not yet have a Cultural Education Plan.

The jury highlighted the fact that: “The project outlines an inclusive and flexible approach to educational planning through an innovative use of digital technology, which is relevant at local, national and European levels. It proves how digital technology can help to accelerate or maximise the results and impact in wider communities”.
Culture Leap has ensured that cultural education is inclusive of all children, regardless of their background, and that it is more effectively distributed to municipalities and regions where cultural experiences for children and young people are, at times, lacking. The plans ensure cooperation between schools and cultural institutions in the surrounding area and give participants a chance to familiarise themselves with the culture and cultural heritage of their hometown or region while encouraging an understanding of the diversity of local culture.

“Culture Leap has stressed the importance of including education related to the arts, culture and heritage in the regular curriculum, in turn underlining its important role in creating responsible citizenship and instilling value in innovation and creativity”, the jury stated.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zvBfLbDSSs