EUROPA-NOSTRA-AWARD

The pioneering cultural heritage tourism initiative SHAPING 24 – the project that links the iconic Norwich 12 buildings with 12 heritage sites in Ghent, Belgium – has won a prestigious EU prize.

The SHAPING 24 project, led by Norwich’s Heritage Economic and Regeneration Trust (HEART) and in conjunction with Ghent City Council, is a winner of the 2014 European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards, which are unveiled today by the European Commission and Europa Nostra.

SHAPING-24

SHAPING 24 was selected from 160 nominated projects across 30 countries, and is a winner in the Education, Training and Awareness-Raising category. At the awards ceremony on 5th May 2014 in Vienna, six of the winners will be named as Grand Prix laureates, receiving €10,000 each, and one will receive the Public Choice Award, chosen in an online poll conducted by Europa Nostra – you can vote for HEART’s SHAPING 24 project at vote.europanostra.org.

The successful project had a positive impact on economic development, regeneration, education and learning, community engagement, promotion and access. One of the key achievements is the promotion and celebration of the Norwich 12 buildings – the UK’s finest collection of individually outstanding heritage buildings spanning the Norman, medieval, Georgian, Victorian and modern eras – through guidebooks, leaflets, www.norwich12.co.uk and the Norwich: Heritage City smartphone app. Norwich 12 generated a direct investment of almost £1 million from the Treasury’s Invest to Save budget, levering a further £1 million of matched funding and an estimated multiplier impact of a further £4 million to the local economy, with further funding and match funding generated through the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund.

The project has produced high profile events, such as Culture Matters, the international cultural heritage conference held in November 2012, which attracted around 180 heritage professionals from all over the world, and generated approximately £60,000 for the local economy. The 2009 and 2011 Norwich Dragon Festivals and The H Factor heritage events encouraged ‘sneaky’ learning and community engagement, and were together enjoyed by over 81,500 people.

Michael Loveday, Chief Executive of HEART, said: “We are very proud that all of the innovation and hard work exhibited by HEART and its partners has been recognised by such a prestigious organisation as Europa Nostra. We hope that this will provide a further accolade for Norwich, placing it firmly on the international radar as a place that is at the cultural cutting edge. The €4.5m EU project created enormous benefit for the local economy, and for the Norwich 12 raising their profile locally, nationally and internationally and getting more visitors across the doorsteps.”

The SHAPING 24 project developed the online heritage quest game ‘n-Explore’ (www.n-explore.com) – a hidden object game exploring 1,000 years of Norwich’s history; the award winning ‘Strangers – A History of Norwich’s Incomers’ book (EDP Jarrold East Anglian Book Awards winner for History and Tradition 2012), interactive touchscreen game HistOracle (housed in The Forum) and led the Norwich Ambassador Scheme, which has trained over 300 Norwich Ambassadors to promote Norwich’s cultural heritage offer and encourage people to explore and experience more of the city.

HEART also worked with venues and community groups to fund education and learning projects that engaged new audiences with heritage, such as the child-led Secret 12 project which produced a family-friendly walking trail to the Norwich 12; the Norwich Through My Eyes project from Norfolk Adult Education Services which worked with Black, Asian and Minority Ethic (BAME) residents to produce a multi-media exhibition, and Norwich Cathedral’s Family Learning Festival ‘Back in Time’.

The SHAPING 24 project has garnered praise from international experts in heritage and regeneration. Judges for Europa Nostra said: “The Jury was impressed with the degree of imagination shown in this co-operative programme: educational projects, the use of digital applications, and the organisation of matching public events. The audiences in both cities have been commendably wide, including children and students, families, minority groups, as well as local citizens and visiting tourists. Above all, the venture validates the use of EU funding for incontestably European, as opposed to merely local, benefits, and thus illustrates the power of example at the most relevant level of all.”

Dr Jonathan Foyle, Chief Executive of the World Monuments Fund Britain Ltd, said that HEART’s “Norwich 12 strategy for uniting diverse historic buildings to achieve benefits across regeneration, economy, culture and tourism, enhancing civic pride, and forging partnerships in Europe is excellent.”

SHAPING 24 was a cultural heritage and tourism initiative taking forward the Norwich 12 project with the Belgian city of Ghent. The SHAPING 24 project was funded by the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund (INTERREG IVA 2 Seas Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2007-2013).

To find out more information about the SHAPING 24 project, visit www.shaping24.eu, and to vote for the project to win the Public Choice Award visit vote.europanostra.org.

 

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