Main aim: Creative promotion of rural mountain areas of Armenia, Georgia 
and Slovakia.

Description:

The project brings together innovative approaches and creative people in order to facilitate inter-cultural collaboration, to support transnational mobility of artists and professionals and to promote the unique cultural heritage of rural mountain areas of Armenia, Georgia and Slovakia. It uses cultural events, communication campaigns and digital technologies in order to foster international exchanges, cultural diversity and local development in a sustainable direction. Project activities are designed to promote music, gastronomy, crafts and other forms of intangible and tangible cultural heritage.  The project will bring new marketing and communication skills to support 40+ farmers, 200+musicians, 12+ culinary heritage specialists, 20+ craft-masters, and contribute to development sustainable tourism in 3 mountain regions. The established network of partners will provide room for capacity-building of local cultural actors and stakeholders involved in rural development, improve visibility of individual areas also outside national borders and serve as a basis for further networking with similar European regions and actors.

The project focuses on the following key activities:

1. To transfer the best EU experience in the fields of culture and sustainable rural development to Slovakia, Georgia and Armenia,  to build the capacity of the participating entities though organisation of study-tour, webinars and peer-learning;
2. To use the leading theme of the project “Creative Mountains” as a catalyst for cultural co-operation and creativity of local cultural actors and artists through organisation of 3 folklore-gastronomic festivals  that prolong the tourist season and support livelihoods of local communities;
3. To promote and to interpret the unique cultural heritage of mountain regions as part of rich European culture by luring creative people (e.g. 30 bloggers and photographer) to rural mountain areas (3 art-expeditions) and get them inspired by local landscapes, culinary heritage, music and attractive environment. By visiting the regions and capturing their experiences creative professionals and artists will share their words and pictures with millions of people across Europe via digital media.

Photo: Peter Olekšák, Vladimir Alexa, Tamar Shiolashvili

Text: Svetlana Belova