Call for papers: international conference "Heritage in the Service of Resilient Communities”

University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy, together with UNESCO Heritage City Viljandi, is celebrating the Tartu 2024 European Capital of Culture year with the Viljandi Heritage Festival (October 1-5, 2024). 

The week-long program explores, from various perspectives, how traditional cultural knowledge can contribute to finding sustainable solutions to nowadays challenges. The festival starts with a conference where we will discuss tradition as a cultural process and consider heritage as an environmental, cultural, social, and economic value that supports and helps develop society at local, national, and global levels.

Cultural heritage, including heritage technologies, intangible cultural heritage, and other cultural practices, have helped humanity adapt and cope with various challenges over millennia. The focus of the conference is the question of which values, knowledge, skills, and practices hidden in cultural heritage enrich the contemporary living environment and help us find sustainable solutions to social, economic, and environmental problems. The conference welcomes presentations and participation from researchers, practitioners of heritage, faculty, students, and creative individuals. The working language of the conference is English. 

We are inviting presentations, poster presentations, exhibitions, and other creative presentations on research and development topics that help apply the values found in heritage wisely in solving today’s bottlenecks. We are looking for proposals that focus on topics such as: 
•    What is considered heritage and what else could be considered heritage. 
•    New methods and sources for researching and applying heritage. 
•    The role of heritage phenomena in solving the environmental crisis. 
•    Heritage as a common ground for communities. 
•    Connections between mental well-being and practices found in heritage. 
•    Linking science, technology, entrepreneurship, and heritage. 
•    The diversity and opportunities of traditional production methods today. 
•    The philosophy of preserving heritage. 
•    Cultural heritage and identity. 
•    International cooperation in cultural heritage.

To express your wish to perform, please fill out the form and submit a 150–300-word presentation introduction HERE. 
  
Important dates: 
•    Deadline for submitting abstracts: April 15, 2024 
•    Selection of presentations: April 30, 2024 
•    Announcement of the program and opening of registration: May 20, 2024

The conference is organized by the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy in cooperation with UNESCO Creative Cities, UNESCO chairs on Living Heritage, and the NordTradCraft network. The conference is part of the international Viljandi Heritage Festival and is included in the European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024 program. 
 
Read more about the Viljandi Heritage Festival here.