European Cultural Heritage Conference to take place in Vilnius on 13-14 November
For the first time, Lithuania holds the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union from 1 July to 31 December 2013. On this occasion, the Department of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania will organise an European Conference on Cultural Heritage, entitled ‘Cultural Heritage and the EU 2020 Strategy: towards an integrated approach’, which will take place in Vilnius on 13-14 November.
The conference was organised within the framework of the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU Council. Photo: The European Union
With the aim to put cultural heritage at the heart of the public policy agenda and recognize relevance also for other sectors, this conference has the ambition to reach as many stakeholders involved as possible (e.g. heritage professionals, policy makers representing different key stakeholders, civil society, experts, researchers and academicians).
Europa Nostra and also the European Heritage Alliance 3.3, represented by Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović, Secretary General of Europa Nostra, have been invited to speak on behalf of the civil society during the opening session of the conference on 13 November, alongside high representatives of the European Institutions.
In the morning of 14 November, the participants will divide in three thematic workshops to discuss the benefits and added value of cultural heritage for environment, cohesion and agriculture policies. The conference approach will enable the participants to set up interaction between the cultural heritage sector and other European Union policy domains to which it is closely related, and learn more about their challenges, aims and trends. Participants will discuss the wide range of opportunities for cultural heritage to contribute to the emergence of creative ecosystems conducive to smart, sustainable and inclusive growth across Europe. A strategy can be developed to better integrate cultural heritage in other policy areas and mainstream it in the EU-policy framework by using cultural heritage as a resource for promoting the objectives of EU 2020.
The conference will be concluded with a final statement and specific recommendations on how to put the mainstreaming principle into practice. In addition, the Lithuanian Presidency will present a proposal relating to future Council Conclusions during subsequent EU-Presidencies on cultural heritage in a strategic perspective, providing a long term mandate to work on cultural heritage issues.
