This summer REMPART and 15 Europeans partners (12 countries), among them the Transylvania Trust, start the ERASMUS+ Heritage Volunteers and Leaders II project. 13 actions will take place in France until December 2022, on 10 heritage sites. They will be coordinated by REMPART, a non-formal education association dedicated to heritage restoration. This project follows on from a first and successful heritage-based ERASMUS+ in 2018-2019.

Heritage is often perceived as a field where expertise is needed, creating a gap between the citizens and those who protect the sites and know-hows. Erasmus Heritage Volunteers and Leaders tend to demonstrate that heritage is shared and that everyone can access it. Hence, heritage appears as a relevant way to structure exchanges in Europe.

From 2020 to 2022, Erasmus Heritage Volunteers and Leaders II will gather 240 young Europeans and heritage lovers in 9 youth exchanges, 2 workshops et 1 training. From Cézon island’s Vauban Fortress in Brittany to Coucy’s castle in Picardy, bearing the scars of both World Wars, the sites taking part to the actions all tackles several transnational topics such as European diversity or cultural outreach methods, turning heritage into everyone’s concern. Each exchange will count 3 to 4 national groups and will be organised on a heritage site taken care of by a REMPART association. They will all focus on technical workshops linked to the restoration project of the sites, while easing interactions through practical activities, guided tours of the nearby sites, shared time, or educational session on European Heritage. Created with our partners, the activity kit Our heritage will offer ideas to the organising structures to set up games on the topic of European heritage: how is it perceived? Which values does it carry? What is at stake for this shared heritage today? Etc.

In addition, the project will involve citizens already committed to heritage preservation, coming from our 16 partner organisations. Indeed, workshops and training will be set up to give our partners the opportunity to share their expertise and to strengthen their capacities on heritage animation. Our organisations implement volunteers workcamps everywhere in Europe, to safeguard heritage sites. These actions are open to all, especially to the younger generation, as they are places of know-how and skills transmission but also intercultural and intergenerational exchanges. Thus, we believe that they aim to be animated together and to network. The sum of our partners’ expertise will enrich the content of these European wide sessions and set the grounds of future common projects.

This project is supported by the European Union ERASMUS+ programme, the French Ministry of Culture and the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs.