ACTIVITIES

Activities realised within "Cultural Heritage – a Bridge towards a Shared Future" are coordinated by UNESCO, through the Culture Section of the UNESCO Office in Venice – Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe (BRESCE), with the objective to ensure the complementarity of the single projects, and their adherence to common objectives as set by the Ministerial Conferences, and the consistence of the whole cooperation process.

All actions are defined in agreement with Ministries of Culture of relevant countries, so as to be integrated with cultural policies and priorities of each member country.

The main financial source is the Trust Fund for Cultural Heritage in South-Eastern Europe, created at the UNESCO-BRESCE as a follow-up to the first Ministerial Conference (Mostar, 2004), and supported by Italy, through the Italian Development Cooperation (Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

Within this framework, activities have been realised or are on-going in the following countries:

Albania
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Montenegro
Romania

Other activities in Croatia, Serbia and Moldova are in pipeline.

In addition to the projects at the country level, regional activities are currently being defined with an aim at further strengthening cultural cooperation on a broader scale. In this regard, specific attention shall be given at enhancing institutional capacities in the various fields of cultural heritage management, ranging from restoration, to safeguarding, to promotion and development of cultural tourism. In particular, the following is under way:

• Communication of Heritage - Regional training course on theories and techniques of public communication in the field of cultural heritage (September 2007 - January 2008). The course, aimed at Ministries of Culture of South-Eastern European countries, intends to provide officers of public cultural administrations with analytical and operational tools in order for their work to be more effective in pursuing strategic objectives through the promotion and communication of cultural heritage, with a view to supporting intercultural dialogue as well as human and economic development. (Programme)

Research and studies - Cultural heritage as a tool for human, social and economic development
Aiming to integrate above-mentioned activities with the development of research for a better valorisation of SEE cultural heritage, UNESCO-BRESCE is carrying out a series of studies on the role of cultural heritage in promoting a sustainable human, social and economic development. At present, three reports on cultural tourism respectively on Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania, and Serbia have been published.

Collaboration with Italian Regions
As a follow-up to the Venice Ministerial Conference (2005), the Italian Regions Tuscany, Veneto, and Umbria offered their support for enhancing the preservation and promotion of contemporary art in South-Eastern Europe. This commitment originated the following activities, specifically directed to the museums of contemporary art of Belgrade, Sarajevo, and Skopje, and intended as a pilot project for a future, broader cooperation:

• The system of contemporary art in Tuscany and Umbria – Visit programme for managers and directors of contemporary art museums of Belgrade, Sarajevo and Skopje (  (PDF 66 Kb))
• FuturoContemporaneo – Seminar on conservation of contemporary art, sponsored by the Veneto Region
  Futuro Contemporaneo