The European Federation of the Saint James Way participates in the 13th Annual Cultural Routes Advisory Forum, which this year will be held in Visegrad (Hungary) from 25 to 27 September 2024. The main theme of this edition is ‘Transmission and innovation: encouraging the participation of young people along the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe’; The aim is to rethink the involvement of young people in the European Cultural Routes Programme, either from the perspective of their knowledge and enjoyment, as public, but also in the management of heritage and the decision making of the governance itself.
It is organised by the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes (EPA) of the Council of Europe in collaboration with the European Cultural Routes Institute, the Hungarian Ministry of Culture and Innovation and the Hungarian Open Air Museum.
The European Federation is represented at the event by Oleksandr Vesheleni, representative of the Municipality of Vinnytsia in Ukraine, which was elected to the Vice-Presidency of the Federation, and Catarina Chaves, representative of the Municipality of Vila Pouca de Aguiar in Portugal, which holds the position of Secretariat of the European Federation.
The event features a series of general panels, accompanied by debates, thematic and special sessions and a welcoming ceremony for the newly admitted member state of the Council of Europe’s Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes. It includes the certification ceremony of the Council of Europe Cultural Routes that received or renewed certification in 2024 (as is the case of the Pilgrimage Route of Santiago de Compostela) and the attribution of an award recognising the best practices of the Cultural Routes, aimed at youth involvement.
In addition to attending the moments planned in the programme, the participation of the European Federation of the Way of St. James in the Forum is of utmost importance to foster collaboration and projects between different classified routes, as well as to expand the network to new countries and regions.
