Welcome to the ERIH newsletter in March. Following the approval of a new EU funding package until 2028, what happens next? That was the focus of an ERIH kick-off meeting on further strategic planning. We also provide a brief update on the founding of the planned Federal Association of Industrial Heritage in Germany, followed by a video review of the ERIH Annual Conference in Łódź, details of the ERIH Young Professionals workshop programme and this year's ‘WERKSTATT Industriekultur 2025’ for German-speaking audiences, the new NEMO-Guide with dialogue formats on climate protection and a visit to potential new Anchor Points in Finland. The newsletter concludes with three ERIH contributions to panel discussions as well as upcoming events.

The topics at a glance:

• ERIH Funding: Strategic ERIH project planning kick-off
• ERIH Germany: Founding of the German Industrial Heritage Association
• ERIH Conference: Video recap of the 2024 ERIH Conference
• ERIH Young Professionals: roundtable presents Climate Communication Toolkit
• ERIH Partners: WERKSTATT Industriekultur 2025 @ Ferropolis, Germany
• ERIH Partners: NEMO guide for public forums on climate protection
• ERIH Expansion: Trip to Finland by ERIH board member
• ERIH Panel: Promoting industrial heritage in the age of ecological transition, Paris
• ERIH Panel: Industrial heritage “East-West“, Essen
• ERIH Panel: Future and perspectives of industrial heritage, Bochum
• ERIH Calendar: Save the date

SHINE4Future is the name of an ERIH project, categorised into seven work packages and supported by the EU funding programme Creative Europe Networks with around 1.2 million euros until 2028. At a kick-off meeting in February, a task force consisting of the executive board and management agreed on the definition of sub-projects and next steps.

A particular focus will be on generational change in industrial heritage. With SHINE4Future, ERIH aims to spark young people's interest in the topic, attract them as potential employees, and organise the transfer of knowledge – not least in response to the current shortage of skilled staff and labour. The network of ERIH Young Professionals, founded in 2023, is doing pioneering work in this area with its round-table format for regular online exchange.

Collaboration with universities and students is at the heart of ERIH activities such as the ‘European Industrial Heritage Summer School’ and various research projects. The relaunch of the dance event WORK it OUT in 2026 also focuses on young target groups. In addition, workshops, training sessions and conferences are planned to promote knowledge transfer and professional debate. This is complemented by the successful ‘ERIH on Tour’ scheme, with its expanded exchange and visitor opportunities to be continued. Further topics of the new project are digitalisation, sustainability, inclusion and equality.

After intensive preparatory work, the German Federal Association of Industrial Heritage [Bundesverband Industriekultur Deutschland e.V.] will be founded tomorrow, 1 April, at ERIH Anchor Point LWL Industrial Museum Zollern Colliery, Dortmund (D). As a powerful lobby and exchange platform, it aims to introduce industrial heritage topics into politics and society and make them heard.

Well connected and with focused resources, the federal association, from its upcoming office in Dortmund, intends to raise the profile of the wide range of technical and socio-political issues surrounding industrial heritage. Doing so helps to encourage dialogue and knowledge transfer in the political and tourism sectors, while inviting interested parties to get involved.

These efforts seek to always take the European perspective into account. Among other things, the association plans to compile its experiences related to its founding in a handout and share it with stakeholders in other countries. Financial support is kindly provided by the two regional associations for the Rhineland and for Westphalia-Lippe (LWL, LVR) and the Ruhr Regional Association (RVR), all of which will become institutional funding members.

The entire conference in 3 minutes and 36 seconds – is that possible? Of course not. But the recap video skilfully and emotionally showcases both participants and venues. Of course, the three hosting ERIH Anchor Points are prominently featured: the EC1 Łódź - City of Culture, the Central Museum of Textiles and the Manufaktura Museum of the Factory. Thanks to the Łódź Tourism Organisation for this evocative video retrospective!

The video is available on the ERIH YouTube channel:
ERIH on YouTube

‘Talking Climate: New Tools for the Climate Discussion’ is the topic of the next ERIH Young Professionals (YP) digital roundtable on 7 April from 5 to 6:30 pm CET. YPs Brett, Ilana, Olivia and Vittoria will share valuable insights into the climate communication toolkit developed by the European Industrial Heritage Summer School 2024. The project was already presented at the ERIH Annual Conference and General Assembly in Łódź, Poland, last October. The speakers will provide revealing insights into how industrial heritage sites can integrate their unique perspectives into meaningful climate narratives. In the interactive workshop, participants will learn to identify key stakeholders at their sites and apply different climate communication strategies using the toolkit.

To register, please use the following link: https://eveeno.com/erih-yp-roundtable-april25. Upon registration, a Zoom link will instantly be sent to your email. In case of questions, please email young-professionals@erih.net.

Under the headline ‘Talk, Design, Get Involved. Industrial Heritage as a Space for Transformation and Participation', the Saxony-Anhalt Industrial Heritage Network (NIK) and the Saxony Industrial Heritage Association (IKU), together with the Berlin Centre for Industrial Heritage (bzi) and the Ruhr Regional Association (RVR), extend an invitation to the Industrial Heritage Workshop (WERKSTATT Industriekultur) 2025, to be held from 15 to 16 May at the ERIH Anchor Point Ferropolis in Saxony-Anhalt. The focus is on today's far-reaching social transformations, disparities between urban and rural areas, and the general decline in human and financial resources. It also addresses the question of how differently regions deal with processes of structural transition.

As part of this programme, workshops are already underway in eight regions across Germany. These workshops are identifying the issues being discussed on the ground – from global warming to how to deal with migration and racism, and the rise of political extremism – and the challenges that these issues pose for industrial heritage sites' employees as well as the support they need. Discussions will be compiled and presented at the closing event of the Industrial Heritage Workshop 2025 in Ferropolis.

The event is open to any German-speaking individuals interested in industrial heritage. Prior participation in a regional workshop is not required. The number of participants is limited to 50. Please register at https://eveeno.com/werkstatt_industriekultur_2025.

Polarisation, social rifts and growing mistrust in government and politics are increasingly shaping our perception of the here and now. Against this backdrop, museums have a key role to play in promoting public dialogue and societal cohesion – especially when it comes to the current climate debate.

To this end, the ‘Sustainability and Climate Action’ working group of the Network of European Museum Organisations (NEMO) has developed a new toolkit. Its title: Fostering dialogue in divisive times – A guide for museums regarding engagement with community forums on climate action. The 27-page guide offers practical tools for organising and running public dialogue events, and opens up new ways for museums to maintain contact with their communities and remain relevant.
NEMO-Guide – public forums on climate protection

Isabella Alfken from the Ruhr Regional Association, who has been a new member of the ERIH Executive Board since October, visited several Finnish ERIH member sites in mid-March, including the Friitala Leather Museum in Ulvila and the Ahlström Ironworks in Noormarkku. The trip also included two workshops. One focused on regional routes, highlighted their strengths as exemplified by the Ruhr District's Industrial Heritage Trail, presented the Finnish regional route along the west coast and closed with an interactive exchange on best practices. The second workshop included Isabella Alfken's presentation of the ERIH network, along with a keynote address on the Czech regional route Technotrasa on the subject of ‘Sustainable Industrial Heritage Travelling’ and another session on sustainable travel options in Finland. The third day of the trip took the group to the ERIH member Forssa Museum & Pattern Centre on the Spinning Mill Area and finally to the candidate Anchor Point, the Strömfors Ironworks, with a guided tour of the premises and various buildings.

Until the end of June, the Finnish Ministry of Culture is funding a project coordinator whose role is to bring together stakeholders and activities in the field of industrial heritage. The idea is to establish further regional routes and to improve the networking between sites in Finland. As early as 2024, this was already the subject of a nationwide campaign that led to a significant increase in the number of Finnish ERIH members.

Museum Connection 2025, the international trade fair for museums and cultural tourism in Paris, provided a good opportunity to raise ERIH's profile in France. While the country is home to significant industrial heritage, it is still underrepresented in the realm of museums and particularly internationally, for example within the ERIH network. Ecological transformation and sustainability prompted the French forum to address industrial heritage for the first time. How can we reduce the ecological footprint of sites? What are the new narratives needed to tell the story of industrial heritage? How should we address a new generation? Host Florence Brachet-Champsaur, Director of Heritage at SNCF, raised precisely the questions that we are also dealing with at ERIH.
Photo, from left to right: Walter Hauser, Florence Brachet Champsaur (SNCF), Chloé Pirson (Musée de la Mine de du Développement Durable), Yana Klichuk (Manifesta Biennale)

Industrial heritage preserves the stories of people whose lives were affected by the upheavals in the industrial sector. A panel discussion at Zollverein World Heritage Site in Essen revealed the diversity of these stories by confronting the experiences of the decades-long transformation in the Ruhr District with those following the drastic disruption of the industry in Saxony after the dissolution of the GDR. Walter Hauser, representing ERIH, added the perspective of other European countries. What became clear was the importance of sharing these stories across regions and borders – for the people themselves, but to also learn from each other as regions, so that transformation can succeed.
Photo, from left to right: Timo Hauge (RVR), Dietmar Osses (Ruhr Museum, Zollverein Foundation), Walter Hauser, Anja Nixdorf-Munkwitz (Regional Association of Industrial Heritage Saxony), Karsten Feucht (BZI)

On 22 February, the German Mining Museum / Leibniz Research Museum for Georesources hosted an Open Day to celebrate the reopening of the newly refurbished ‘Doppelbock’ headframe. By the evening, more than 10,000 visitors turned up. In the afternoon, a series of talks were held on the topic of industrial heritage. The panel ‘Industrial Heritage - Perspectives and Projects’ included Christiane Baum, representing ERIH, Dr Michael Farrenkopf (German Mining Museum Montan.Dok), Prof. Joseph Hoppe (bzi Berlin Centre for Industrial Heritage) and Anja Nixdorf-Munkwitz (Regional Association of Industrial Heritage Saxony).

Christiane Baum highlighted the importance of the European dimension of industrial culture as a shared cultural heritage. ERIH, as a member of the European Commission's Cultural Heritage Expert Group and one of the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe, acts as a major lobbying force and advocate. With the Creative Europe Network project ‘SHINE4Future’, launched in 2025, ERIH is implementing a comprehensive four-year programme of projects involving participation and exchange.
Photo, from left to right: Dr Michael Farrenkopf, Christiane Baum, Anja Nixdorf-Munkwitz, Prof. Joseph Hoppe. Moderator: Dr Jörg Biesler, WDR, Photo: Patrick Lambertus