projects
2025 - 2026: CURV - CUltural Routes towards Vocational training
The 49 Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe are transnational networks nowadays facing the challenge of transnational cooperation, visibility and European travelling. Mostly based on a bottom-up approach, they have among their members, either employed or volunteers, a wide range of experiences and needs in the field learning and training. The CURV project thus aims at gathering and discussing about them and helping design a long-term strategy to develop common skills.
- a data analysis of the working structure of the networks,
- a memorandum of cooperation,
- a branding architecture,
- a white paper on travelling strategies,
- an exhibition and cross marketing events.
2021 - 2024: TExTOUR - Social Innovation and TEchnologies for sustainable growth through participative cultural TOURism
Cultural tourism is about managing cultural heritage and tourism in an integrated way. It’s about working with local communities to create benefits for everyone involved. This helps preserve tangible and intangible cultural heritage while developing tourism.
The EU-funded project TExTOUR co-designed pioneering and sustainable cultural tourism strategies and policies. The ultimate goal has always been to improve deprived areas in Europe and beyond. To do this, it set up Cultural Tourism Labs at eight pilots located within the EU and outside it. Various societal players and stakeholders in the Cultural Tourism sector has been involved in the Cultural Tourism Labs.
The selected pilots had diverse and complementary characteristics, which enabled the project’s experts to develop a wide range of scenarios for inland and coastal areas, rural and urban, deprived, remote, or peripheral areas, facing multiple social, economic, and environmental challenges.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020
research and innovation programme under grant agreement No.101004687
2023: Netzwerk Inklusionsberatung
In the past, networking activities between European inclusion organizations have not resulted in lasting partnerships. The goal of our small cooperation network is therefore to analyze the current situation in Europe and explore opportunities for a sustainable network. Our primary focus is on current methods in inclusion consulting for all key sectors of the general labor market.
Advantages of collaborating with transnational partners include:
- Exchange of practical experience among partners
- Identifying potential partners along European cultural routes
Answering the following questions:
- What are the success factors for inclusion consulting for organizations in the labor market?
- What selection criteria are crucial for finding partners?
- Which EU countries are particularly suitable for the geographical and substantive expansion of our partnership?
2018 - 2022: FAB Routes - Digital Skills To Promote EU Cultural Routes
FAB Routes is a KA202 - Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training project, co-funded by the Erasmus + programme under the Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices call. The general objective of the project is to design a new training methodology and educational module aimed at fostering and enriching the knowledge and transversal competences of the staff members and operators of the EU Cultural Routes (CRs) recognized by the Council of Europe, in order to improve CRs management and promotion in the field of sustainable and cultural tourism.
2019 - 2022: „Kulturrouten des Europarates – Projekt zur Bewusstseinsbildung und Öffentlichkeitswirkung“
Despite initial achievements, the existing cultural routes and the cultural route program as a whole (quality label) have so far received very little attention from the German public and relevant stakeholders. As a result, their potential cannot be fully utilized, and interested parties lack a central point of contact.
The following are lacking:
- inclusion of the networks in official publications,
- continued operation of the contact point for new interested parties,
- a communication link between the cultural routes, the relevant ministries, the European Political Institution (EPA), and the Council of Europe's Cultural Routes Institute,
- connections with regional and national stakeholders and authorities in the cultural and tourism sectors,
- joint press relations,
- a sustainable structure involving all representatives of the Council of Europe's cultural routes with German members.
Due to the work done so far by the cultural route networks and their members, awareness exists primarily at the local level, but declines sharply at the regional and national levels. The task now is to sustainably embed the cultural routes – in coordination with the federal government – within the cultural and tourism policies of the German states.
The project aims to:
- increase awareness of the Council of Europe's cultural routes with German participation,
- establish the title "Council of Europe Cultural Route" as a quality label in Germany,
- ensure the long-term operation of the cultural routes with the participation of German partners and a German cultural route network through integration into regional policy areas,
- engage stakeholders from politics, business, and civic groups in the cultural routes.
gefördert durch:
2018 - 2020: DECRA - Developing European Cultural Routes for All
The ERASMUS+ DECRA project was built on the basis of a common reflection of 18 European Cultural Routes (ECR) – some of these ECR are certified as Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe. Recognizing that the transnational networks of the European Cultural Routes gather a whole richness, frequently unknown, of skills, know-how and know-how-to-be necessary to an effective implementation of European cultural cooperation, the different partners aim at gathering, analysing, discussing and transmiting, thank to digital tools adapted and easy to use for a large audience, practices and skills of the members of the European networks of ECRs.
With the motto „Exchange, Learn, Expire“, the DECRA project gathered experiences, practices and projects implemented in the frameworks of European Cultural Routes. They are organised among 4 different topics for you to explore: Accessebility, Social inclusion, Local Heritage and Network development.
2019: Internationales Symposium "VIA REGIA - Kulturroute des Europarates"
The VIA REGIA is the oldest and longest land route connecting Eastern and Western Europe. It has existed for over 2,000 years and stretches from the Atlantic coast to Kyiv. In 2006, it was designated a "Cultural Route of the Council of Europe." This designation is supported by an international network of more than 100 partners from six European countries (local authorities, associations, organizations, institutes, initiatives, businesses, and individuals), and now also includes the city of Leipzig. The network is coordinated by the European Cultural and Information Centre in Thuringia, which is also organizing the symposium.
The rapid development of VIA REGIA-related activities in the areas of festivals, cultural exchange, (cultural) tourism, etc. in recent years, the many new members joining the network, especially large cities such as Erfurt, Görlitz, Lviv and Leipzig, new ideas for international network projects, and the old and new challenges of VIA REGIA-related work in the six participating countries, made it urgently necessary for the members and external partners to meet at this symposium, exchange ideas and develop joint projects for the future, also with a view to the 15th anniversary as a "Cultural Route of the Council of Europe" in 2021.
funded by the City of Leipzig
2016 - 2019: COME-IN! – Cooperating for Open access to Museums – towards a widEr Inclusion
For many museums in Central Europe, designing their spaces and exhibitions according to the concept of "for all"—which aims to provide equal access to cultural institutions for people with diverse needs in the built environment—presents a significant challenge. This is due to a lack of experience and organizational know-how related to barrier-free design, as well as limited financial resources for both investment and targeted marketing.
Against this backdrop, the EU project "Cooperating for open access to museums towards a wider inclusion" (COME-IN!) aims to strengthen the position of small and medium-sized museums by opening them up to as many different user groups as possible, with varying requirements for barrier-free access and experiences. The project has a total budget of €2.72 million and is being implemented within the framework of the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE program for a duration of 36 months, from July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2019. The approach of COME-IN! is based on a multifaceted network of museums, associations and advocacy groups for people with disabilities, research and training institutions, and political representatives.
This project is developing an innovative strategic approach to promoting "Museums for All" in order to enhance their appeal and public perception. Together, they discuss and establish transnationally applicable approaches and organize structured knowledge transfer. This includes developing guidelines for creating accessible collections and exhibitions, as well as a training manual for museum staff, which are then tested within the project network. Pilot projects and training for museum professionals are also being conducted, and the results are analyzed, including through monitoring of user satisfaction and visitor numbers. Based on the experience gained, the COME-IN! label is being created as an innovative marketing tool to recognize museums that meet the relevant requirements. This label will be promoted through the museum network and disseminated from the local to the European level as a mark of quality for Museums for All.
2014 - 2015: Reisen für Alle: VIA REGIA - eine Zeitreise durch deutsche Kultur und Geschichte
The overall objective of the project is the implementation, promotion and marketing of universal accessibility to the Route “VIA REGIA – Cultural Route of the Council of Europe” between Frankfurt/ Main and Leipzig combining 8 destinations. The project aims at reducing different main barriers that prevent people with special access needs from travelling. It does not aim at developing offers only for disabled people but to integrate them in a tourism for all. With that we want to promote equal opportunity and social inclusion by adaptation of the VIA REGIA tourism products to the needs of people with special access needs.
The specific objectives are reducing one third of the main barriers that prevent the target groups from traveling, developing concrete tourism packages combining high quality toursim products and services along the route with accessible information for all, promotion and dissemination of best practices, raising awareness for the concept 'tourism for all' and sensibilising the 24 Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe and the Programme for the theme “tourism for all”.
The activities contain: SWOT-analysis on needs, offer, deficits and chances of a tourism for all, creation of a data base containing 5000 POI with information on their accessibility as base for the development of an interactive webportal with map as individual planning tool. For touristic providers we develop a guidebook, offers for training measure on dealing with people with special access needs and implement a certification system. The projects includes the development of VIA REGIA tourism packages for 2016 and of a pilot project for 2015. A touristic prospect and leaflets on tourism packages for people with special access needs will be published. In cooperation with tour operators the offers will be published in mainstream tourism channels. Evaluation surveys provide an overview on satisfaction of the target groups.
http://via-regia-barrierefrei.de