Junta de Castilla y León describes its innovative cultural heritage plans in Oporto

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The Regional Directorate of Culture of the North of Portugal, a member of the EVoCH Platform steering group, held the International Seminar on Cultural Heritage: Economy and Employment from 17 to 19 October. This initiative was part of the work plan agreed in February by the EVoCH Platform, the European network on the economic value of cultural heritage, at its meeting in Valladolid.

The Portuguese Secretariat of State of Culture prepared this seminar after joining the EVoCH Platform’s steering group in the presence of the Regional Culture and Tourism Minister. Some 32 experts and more than 200 participants from five countries attended this international seminar.

During his speech, the Director General of Cultural Heritage of the Regional Government of Castilla y León, Enrique Saiz, gave a presentation on the EVoCH initiative, which was launched in 2012 at an event held at the European Parliament. He also described the Government of Castilla y León’s proposal on the new challenges that public administrations, private stakeholders and individuals face with regard to cultural heritage management.

He discussed the need to establish a new public and social approach to deal with this reality. The aim would be to view cultural heritage assets as a resource within the ordinary value chain, to be used to help development and people’s wellbeing, and not as a burden to be addressed only with public funding and when the economic situation is buoyant. The key concepts of this new approach are innovation, public initiative, the intangible value that cultural heritage brings to the community, the integration of heritage into young people’s education and training, the value of the region vs. that of the monument... When viewed in this way, the economic crisis could be seen as an opportunity to review our public policies and the role of civil society in this domain.

During the Seminar, The Regional Ministry of Culture and Tourism, through the Directorate General of Heritage, reached partnership agreements with various public and private entities, including the Master’s programme in Creative Economy of the Rey Juan Carlos University, the Culture Management programme of the University of Barcelona, the Italian Fitzcarraldo Foundation, and English Heritage, the public body with responsibility for heritage in England.