ERIH: Successful re-certification as Cultural Route of the Council of Europe
With its comprehensive network of sites and routes, preserving and enhancing the tangible and intangible heritage of Europe's industrialisation, illustrating its historical significance and highlighting its common features across different regions of Europe, ERIH has first qualified as a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe in 2019. Quality criteria for the label are reviewed every three years. Having successfully passed this process, ERIH may thus continue to display the title.
Along with the re-certification, the Governing Board of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe (EPA) issued recommendations to provide guidelines for ERIH until its next regular assessment. The three most important are:
- Encourage cooperation among the Scientific Committee and both artists and art curators to develop high quality interdisciplinary contemporary art content.
- Expand existing projects and explore other topics for workshops, debates and actions integrating young people within the network, such as Green Deal strategies, creative industries, slavery heritage linked to industrialisation, etc.
- Enhance the strategic development of tourism through closer cooperation between National Coordinators and the ERIH Board. The creation of specific a Working Group on Cultural (Industrial) Tourism is suggested.
ERIH President Professor Dr Meinrad Grewenig and Board Member Peter Backes presented the ERIH network to the EPA Governing Board in Luxembourg in May as part of the evaluation. We are very happy to be re-certified!