European Young Heritage Professionals Forum © Mathieu Guéritte, 2019 / UNESCO

“Heritage it is an inherent part of our identity. It is a way to understand each other better” mentioned Victoria Kelly, one of the participants to the European Young Heritage Professionals Forum that gathered young practitioners with a background in both tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Participants came from the 28 Member States of the European Union to discuss the multifaceted realities of working in the field of cultural heritage at the local, national, and international levels.

As a new generation of professionals and Cultural Heritage Messengers, they bonded over a common vision for heritage, in which tangible and intangible heritage are inextricably linked and the active participation of local communities is indispensable for their protection and safeguarding.

The European Young Heritage Professionals Forum took place in Zadar, Croatia, from 20 to 24 May 2019 and was organized in the framework of the UNESCO-EU joint project 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage: Engaging Youth for an Inclusive and Sustainable Europe and was part of the World Heritage Education Programme.

The Forum was hosted by the Croatian Commission for UNESCO and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia - developed in close cooperation with the NGO Diadrasis.