Final Report: Cultural Heritage Counts for Europe
“Europa Nostra and the partners of the EU-funded project ´Cultural Heritage Counts for Europe´ (CHCFE) have revealed on 12th June the main findings and strategic recommendations for tapping into heritage´s full potential by providing compelling evidence of the value of cultural heritage and its impact on Europe´s economy, mind culture, price society and the environment.
Key Findings show how adopting a holistic approach is an added value when measuring the impact of cultural heritage on employment, identity, regional attractiveness, creativity and innovation, economic contribution, climate change, quality of life, education and lifelong learning, and social cohesion.
The full report and the executive summary are available for free download here.
In the report´s Executive Summary and Strategic Recommendations, the CHCFE Steering Committee calls for the elaboration of specific “heritage indicators” to facilitate and improve the collection of cultural statistics which are key to support policy makers in evidence-based policy making; for the holistic impact assessment to be conducted as a requirement in all EU-funded heritage projects to better measure impact and monitor trends over a longer period of time. The Steering Committee also asks EU Institutions and its Member States at all levels of governance to integrate the care, protection and proper use of heritage in all related policies, programmes and actions and to include all stakeholders and civil society in developing strategies and policies for cultural heritage. Last but not least, it calls for the recognition of heritage´s positive contribution to regional and local sustainable development in the context of the mid-term review of the Structural Funds (in 2016-2017) and the preparation for the next generation of Structural Funds beyond 2020.”