In view of the Corona crisis and the associated increased focus on one's own living environment, the "Roots: Learn where you live" project should involve an intensive examination of artistic and other methods for imparting regional knowledge. The project starts in the participating regions and cities, which form the starting point for the respective examination of the local cultural heritage, history, traditions, legends and stories and the knowledge of the older population. Following on from the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, this discussion is a particular concern of the partners in the project. We want to train young people to become researchers who use a jointly developed method to deal with the structures that have evolved in their living environment. To this end, institutions from four countries with different backgrounds and approaches have come together. It is a museum, a political organization unit and two schools. We want to benefit from this mix, as well as from the networks that these institutions have. The focus is on learners who will appear as the main actors and who will implement sub-projects in their respective surroundings, which will be communicated to the public in the form of exhibitions, events and publications as well as on the Internet. Institutions that are professionally dedicated to preserving cultural heritage, i.e. archives, museums and libraries, also play an important role. They will represent an important basis for dealing with the topic. At the same time, this is intended to contribute to overcoming the inhibitions that young people undoubtedly often have towards such institutions. Local knowledge, which can only be explored through face-to-face conversation, is also of eminent importance. This intangible cultural heritage is to be collected as part of the project, in which old and young people are brought into conversation with one another in the respective schools and regions. At the same time, the young people make a very important contribution to preserving the knowledge of the older generation (whose living environment differed in so many ways from today's) for the future. With the help of smartphones, etc., it is now relatively easy to record and digitize and thus preserve stories. We would like to fall back on this and, especially in view of the experience with the pandemic, promote dialogue. The European cultural heritage is the theme of the project. We consider the preservation of the cultural heritage to be a central issue. However, it is just as important to convey the cultural heritage to future generations in a suitable form. Because one day they will also become decision-makers who are responsible for the preservation of the cultural heritage (as well as the natural heritage). We also consider the understanding of the different cultural, social, religious and ethnic traditions to be extremely important. This understanding is to be promoted through the examination of regional pasts and traditions and the exchange on an international level. Socially relevant institutions such as museums should also be used. In addition, cooperation with regional and cultural associations plays an important role. By participating in the project, we wanted to encourage young people to find out what defines a region and what significance the cultural heritage has in a city or region. At the same time, we want to make an important contribution to the digitization of cultural heritage and thus to its preservation for the future. The character of the project can be exemplary in many ways. Transferring research in their own living environment to young people, developing suitable methods, focusing on material and immaterial cultural heritage, promoting dialogue between the older and younger generations and at the same time engaging in a European exchange is, however, a must extremely innovative approach. As the applicant institution, the Klostertal Museum Association has endeavored to find a balanced mix of partner institutions. Different types of institutions (schools and NGOs) were taken into account. We see this as a clear strength of the project, because all partners should be able to benefit from each other's backgrounds.
It was very important to start in the participating cities and regions as a starting point for dealing with the local cultural heritage. We wanted to jointly develop methods with which young people could turn to the established structures of their living environment in a targeted and results-oriented manner, in the approach of Citizen Science for young people. The mix of project partners (a museum, two schools, a local authority) played an important role here, as we were able to learn from each other's different backgrounds. This also applies to the geographical backgrounds (two European capitals, an island in the Atlantic, a rural region in Austria). The project aimed to strengthen cooperation between schools and regional research institutions. We wanted to empower young people to safeguard intangible cultural heritage by bringing them into contact with the older generation. In this way, we wanted to raise awareness of the changes of the past and create a spirit of research and searching, true to the motto: "Dig where you live".
In view of the coronavirus crisis and the associated uncertainties as well as an identity crisis that we identified, we wanted to strengthen regional awareness of our own origins (the "roots" referred to in the project title). Through international cooperation, a European network was to be created and the discussion of local phenomena was to be brought into exchange. We have placed cultural heritage at the heart of the project, which ties in with the theme of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018. In the project, young people from the participating institutions and regions have become researchers who have explored the genesis of their living environment (in German, the term "Heimat" is commonly used for this). Both the tangible cultural heritage, i.e. everything built and made, and the intangible cultural heritage, i.e. the knowledge of the older generation, as well as the treasure trove of traditions, legends and tales, have been made the subject of the project. The exchange of schools with archives, museums and libraries has played a particularly important role in the project.