Heritage in Motion Awards: Europeana Teams up with Europa Nostra and the European Museum Academy

Europeana has joined forces with Europa Nostra and the European Museum Academy for the promotion of the multimedia competition Heritage in Motion, which seeks to reach out to new audiences. Representatives from the three organisations gathered to celebrate this new partnership at Europa Nostra’s headquarters in The Hague on 15 February 2016. Jill Cousins, Executive Director of the Europeana Foundation, Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović, Secretary General of Europa Nostra, and Wim van der Weiden, Chairman of the European Museum Academy, agreed that “this moment marks the beginning of an important new phase for Heritage in Motion” and noted that “all partners are strongly committed to raising the profile of these European Awards which celebrate innovation and creativity in regard to heritage, contributing to the full recognition of the value of heritage for Europe’s society”.

On this special occasion, the representatives from Europeana, Europa Nostra and the European Museum Academy were joined by the team of Heritage in Motion – Robin Lutz, Creative Director, Onno Ephraim, Director, and Alexandra Roessingh, Project Leader – as well as by Wolter Braamhorst, Europa Nostra’s Communication Advisor who acts as Chairman of the Jury of Heritage in Motion.

The three partners will collaborate closely on the management of the annual multimedia competition, the organisation of the Awards Ceremony and the implementation of related communication activities. The (re)branding of Heritage in Motion, the creation of a new website, which will sit under Europeana Pro, and the development of a new database to manage the Awards scheme are among the top priorities for 2016/2017.

Heritage in Motion is an annual multimedia competition on themes related to Europe’s cultural and natural heritage for the creators and users of films, games, apps and websites. It celebrates the best multimedia achievements and products, raising public awareness about the outstanding value of Europe’s heritage in all its facets. The Awards are given in four categories: 1) apps for mobile devices, 2) websites and online content, 3) games and interactive experiences, and 4) film and video.

The Heritage in Motion pilot project was officially presented by Europa Nostra and the European Museum Academy on 12 June 2012 at the House of Europe in The Hague, the Netherlands. The winners of the first edition received the Awards on 25 April 2014 at the Burrell Collection in Glasgow, UK. The laureates of the second edition were presented with the Awards on 8 May 2015 in the Museum Santa Giulia in Brescia, Italy. Heritage in Motion is one of the Joint Ventures covered by Europa Nostra’s Network Project ‘Mainstreaming Heritage’, which has the support of the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.

Up to 10 finalists of the third edition of the Heritage in Motion competition will be made public on 11 April 2016. The four winners, selected by an international jury composed of multimedia experts and consumers, will be announced and celebrated at a ceremony on 20 May 2016 in Lesbos, Greece, during the annual conference of the European Museum Academy.

Background

The European Museum Academy (EMA) is a non-profit foundation representing museums at the European level. It has members in more than 38 countries. The EMA is engaged in developing researches in the field of museum innovation, stimulating new ideas and experiences and offering its services as an incubator for new talents and new programmes in order to improve the quality of museum services and of museological discourse at the European level”.

Europeana is Europe’s digital platform for cultural heritage, collecting and providing online access to tens of millions of digitized items from libraries, archives, audio visual collections and museums across Europe. Its network brings together cultural heritage, technology and creative industries professionals from across Europe.

Europa Nostra is the European federation of heritage NGOs which is also supported by a wide network of public stakeholders, private companies and individuals. Covering 40 countries in Europe, it is the voice of civil society committed to the safeguarding and promotion of Europe’s cultural and natural heritage. Europa Nostra celebrates excellence through the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards. It campaigns to save Europe’s endangered monuments, sites and landscapes, in particular through ‘The 7 Most Endangered’ programme. It also contributes to the formulation and implementation of European strategies and policies related to heritage, through a structured dialogue with European Institutions.