In honour of 2018 as European Year of Cultural Heritage, many researches, publications and findings shed light on how cultural heritage and cultural education allow learners of all ages, from children to adults and elderly, to broaden their horizons by developing further knowledge, skills and competences. Cultural education gives them the opportunity to become more open-minded, to embrace the diversity characterising Europe, and understand and respect its values such as peace, tolerance and democracy. CHERISH tackles a significant immaterial cultural heritage such as medieval and Renaissance sports and re-enactments taking place in 4 small towns across Europe, namely in Sansepolcro (IT), Torrijos (ES), Mindelheim (DE) and Visé (BE). Cultural organisations in these towns carry on secular traditions such as flag waving and flag games, crossbow shooting and crossbow tournaments, archery and swordsmanship. In collaboration with public authorities, they also organise annual or bi-annual events that are cornerstones for local communities and magnets attracting hundreds of tourists worldwide, passionate about traditions and re-enactments and willing to learn more about the medieval and renaissance cultural heritage, both material and immaterial. OBJECTIVES The main goal of CHERISH is to develop innovative practices to raise awareness on the importance of Europe’s cultural heritage through educational activities, aimed at the acquisition of physical and mental abilities and the key competence of Cultural awareness and expression, involving pupils, schools, teachers and cultural organisations. The partnership composed by 5 Cultural associations (IT, BE, ES, DE), 2 Secondary Schools (ES, BE) and 1 VET Centre (IT), expert in ERASMUS + projects has identified the following specific objectives: - to promote the acquisition of key competences and abilities related to cultural heritage, particularly to medieval and Renaissance sports, re-enactments and performances, which still need to be enhanced at European level as common cultural identity and heritage - to support teachers, educators and all the relevant cultural heritage key stakeholders in designing and implementing structured non-formal and informal learning activities to allow youngsters to acquire these abilities and competences - to set up a formalised cultural network as basis for a future Cultural Route, with a solid school ambassadors’ programme, which guarantee further sustainability to the educational programme beyond CHERISH project completion - to foster understanding of European and cultural values. TARGET GROUPS - secondary school pupils - teachers - schools - cultural makers - cultural organisations - policy makers - local community The 4 Short term staff trainings, together with 2 school exchanges taking place during the historical events as real life experiences for pupils and other specific activities will lead to the following Intellectual Outputs: O1 – CHERISH Multilingual Handbook for teachers and cultural makers – Cultural awareness and expression activities collecting a set of learning and educational activities that they can adopt and adapt to introduce EU cultural heritage in the classrooms. O2 – Quality Report: Monitoring and evaluation report on how to implement effective learning activities to develop Cultural Awareness and expression and physical and mental abilities such as coordination, concentration, dexterity and spatial perception. The Quality Report and related survey is aimed at assessing: - the Competence of Cultural Awareness and expression and the physical and mental abilities of coordination, concentration, dexterity and spatial perception of pupils; and the skills and competences of teachers and cultural makers in addressing cultural education and heritage. O3 – Cultural Network of Medieval Sports and Re-enactments – it is a network of partners established with a three-years agreement of collaboration and commitment to put into practice what suggested as policy recommendations by the OMC Working Group on Cultural Awareness and expression including a proper school ambassadors’ programme. With this project, the partnership aims to respond to the need to give young European generations new concrete opportunities and structured tools to increase their sense of community belonging and promoting lifelong learning competences and personal skills that allow a balanced personal growth. CHERISH project also aims to create a network operating at European level – that can lead to a new Cultural Route - between towns in different countries twinned and united by similar traditions, raising awareness among schools, teachers, European policy and cultural makers on the importance of networking and enhancement of European cultural heritage.
The CHERISH project was a collective response of 8 partners coming from Italy, Belgium, Germany and Spain to the European Commission’s launch of the European Year of Cultural Heritage in 2018. The purpose of the initiative was to encourage people to engage with the cultural heritage, a richness of common history and values, in an effort to strengthen the sense of community and belonging to a common European space. Cultural providers engaged as flagwavers, crossbowmen or archers, along with school teachers made their own contribution to protecting, enhancing and promoting the European cultural heritage. Their joint efforts took concrete shape in the co-creation of innovative practices and educational activities related to medieval and Renaissance sports and re-enactments that allowed school pupils to develop physical and cognitive abilities, and strengthen the key competence ‘cultural awareness and expression’, which was the main goal of CHERISH. Over a time span of more than 3 years, partners designed ex-novo or adapted educational activities such as the basic movements of flag-waving, drum-building, painting a bolt, shooting with bow or crossbow, medieval clothes and dances according to a frame that focused on pupils learning outcomes; they learned how to monitor and track the development of pupils’ skills and abilities, and laid the foundations for long-lasting cooperation through the setting of a network supported by a statute and framework of an agreement. But as with many of the popular historic characters, the project and its partners had to face the Covid-19 pandemic and its significant impact. After the first year mainly dedicated to the elaboration of activities and first trials with schools, everything had to stop. Practical and in presence activities had to be postponed together the historical re-enactments such as the Palio della Balestra (IT), the Chronicles of King Peter of Castile (ES) or the Frundsberg Festring (DE). It’s significant because the educational activities for schools and transnational mobility activities for staff and pupils were supposed to be closely related to these events as the most prominent immaterial cultural heritage to be promoted at local and European level. Despite all difficulties incurred, partners have successfully managed to: - elaborate 2 versions of the CHERISH Handbook (IO1) in EN, IT, FR, DE and ES that gather 25 learning activities to engage pupils, cultural providers and/or teachers, including digital activities; - design the Quality Report (IO2) as a tool for teachers and cultural providers to support their work in approaching cultural heritage and the development of the key competence cultural awareness and expression in addition to linking heritage to digitization. In fact, the context of the pandemic, allowed partners to rethink and invent new ways of approaching historic re-enactments and related educational activities (i.e. online lessons about the history of Crossbowmen Society and the Palio competition in Sansepolcro, engaging pupils in research about the history of the flags of the world, creation of a digital escape room “Los Castillos Medievales”, contribution on the Izi Travel platform with the description of important landmarks of Visé related to the history of crossbowmen); - establishment of the CHERISH network with a signed agreement among the project partners with the aim of further collaborating to promote the cultural heritage, also through educational pathways involving younger generations for strengthening the European identity and a sense of belonging; - organise 2 staff-training activities, one in Visé in contemporary with Fête d’Aout involving 54 participants (2019) and in Sansepolcro during the Palio della Balestra (2021) with 58 attendees such as cultural providers, teachers, PA officers, in addition to 3 project meetings among partners in IT, DE and ES; - 945 school pupils, 32 teachers, 241 cultural providers involved in cultural heritage-related educational activities for schools. In terms of impact and long-term benefits, the CHERISH project has produced: - a greater awareness on how to effectively transmit the values of the cultural heritage to .pupils, sharing the common values as well as similarities and differences among historic celebrations across 4 European countries - increased acquisition of physical and cognitive abilities by pupils and strengthening the key competence ‘cultural expression and awareness’ of pupils, teachers and cultural providers - raised awareness among all actors of how cultural heritage can be used as means to favour inclusion (pupils from the different social and cultural backgrounds were involved in educational activities), gender equality (both boys and girls attended the activities despite traditions’ constraints) and lead to greater social cohesion by building on the sense of belonging to one European community.