Message from the Director of the European Cultural Routes Institute

Just after my appointment as Director of the European Cultural Routes Institute (EICR) and Executive Secretary of the Council of Europe’s Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes (EPA) in November 2011, I had a unique opportunity to meet many of the cultural routes key players at the annual Cultural Routes Advisory Forum sites.google.com/site/forumfortheculturalroutes on 27-28 November here in Luxembourg. I look forward to meeting others during the year at various major events and meetings.

A dynamic partial agreement. At the end of 2010, the Council of Europe renewed its engagement with cultural routes by creating an enlarged partial agreement, open for broad accession by countries committed to furthering the Organisation’s involvement in cultural heritage and to supporting high-quality cultural tourism for all European citizens. The current fourteen member states have expressed their readiness to give political guidance and contribute financially to the programme. With the help of all our stakeholders, including our local partners and especially with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, sponsor of the Cultural Routes Institute, we will work hard to ensure new accessions to the agreement in 2012, one of the main objectives of the 2011-2013 pilot phase. A new website will be online by the summer.

Changes for the European Cultural Routes Institute. In 2012 we will be working on a strategic plan to optimise our resources, while reviewing our internet presence and working methods and creating new visibility tools..

Michel Thomas-Penette retired as Director at the end of 2011, but we will certainly still benefit from his advice and companionship in the future in different contexts.
In the New Year, Aurore Mallet decided to leave the Institute to take on new challenges in the heritage field. We will miss her and wish her every success.

A successful European partnership. The European Union, our major partner in developing concrete projects, has renewed its support with a new Joint Programme to follow up the recommendations of the 2011 study of the impact of routes networks on SME’s. This programme will serve, in particular, to produce a manual of routes management in cooperation with academics, which we hope to follow up from the autumn with one or more training seminars. The Institute is also providing advice and technical support to several European Commission projects.

Working with the routes. Some routes are in the process of evaluation by the Institute and/or a team of independent experts selected after last year’s call. A total of no less than 25 evaluations of existing routes and new proposals have now been carried out, and will be examined by the partial agreement’s Bureau and Governing Board at meetings on 15-16 February and in April. The assessments contain very constructive guidance and practical advice for future action, and we look forward to discussing the results with each network individually.

Events in 2012. During the coming months the Institute will be holding a series of technical meetings concerning the evaluation process, our expert and university networks, the preparation of statutory intergovernmental meetings and discussion of new proposals for routes. In the second half of the year, equipped with new communication and training tools, we will participate in events on the international cultural tourism calendar, building up to the Advisory Forum in November for which a host will be chosen in the coming weeks. In January, I attended the AGM of the European Route of Jewish Heritage and in February I will be travelling Brno, in the Czech Republic, to attend the Mozart Ways’ AGM.

So all in all, a challenging and exciting 25th anniversary year ahead!

Penelope Denu
Director of the EICR
Executive Secretary of the Council of Europe enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes