MOMAr’s lead partner, the Provincial Government of Zaragoza, held its second stakeholders meeting with an innovative format. The meeting was conceived to be a dialogue space not just for stakeholders but for other local entities engaged to the heritage management, as well as public institutions who brought very useful information to the sector. In this manner, the meeting was broadcasted open to the public by a streaming session on the Spanish newspaper El Periódico de Aragón website. Almost 50 professionals from stakeholders’ organizations participated in the session, and it registered more than 200 views online.
Institutional support
The event started with the institutional speeches, first with the provincial deputy and culture delegate from DPZ, Ros Cihuela, who highlighted the work that is doing the Spanish MOMAr team for the improvement of the heritage management policies. Representatives from the Government of Aragón, the general director of Statutory Development and European Programs, Luis Estaún, and the head of the European Funds Service, Gabriel Navarro, as their turn, informed participants about the NextGerneration funds from the European Commission, and the enormous opportunities they bring to the development of heritage management initiatives.
MOMAr ongoing
Focusing on MOMAr, the scientific leaders of the project, Isabel Soria and Irene Ruiz, presented the latest advances made and updated the next lines of work to be completed together with the stakeholders. In this sense, Ruiz remembered that the ultimate goal of MOMAr is "to influence regional heritage management policies, encouraging new models that adapt to the reality of the rural environment." Besides, Isabel Soria stressed that the project follows the 2030 Agenda and has a direct impact on SDG number 11, linked to the protection and safeguarding of the world's cultural and natural heritage. She also called for the active participation of local entities in the development of the Action Plan to be carried out within MOMAr project, but which "needs everyone's involvement", in the words of Soria.
Different stakeholders had the chance to present their work for the other entities to know better their action lines, and eventually, to promote new collaborations among them. That way, the University of Zaragoza presented its master’s degree in Cultural Heritage Management, the councils of Remolinos and Velilla de Ebro exposed their projects on the rehabilitation of public heritage spaces, the Foundations Tarazona Monumental, Uncastillo, and Territorio Mudéjar explained their current work on preserving and promoting cultural heritage, and finally, Interreg project CRINMA, talked about their success on cultural activities in mountain areas.
Afterward, the head of MOMAr management, Marisa Sebastián, MS&F Associates European Project Management technician, opened a range of opportunities to Zaragoza entities that promote culture and heritage projects. Sebastián presented a list of European programmes in which this type of initiative fits in, for instance, Interreg Europe, POCTEFA and Sudoe or Europe for Citizens and Creative Europe. Thus, the expert explained their areas of action and offered interesting advice and recommendations so that interested entities have better possibilities to apply for these programmes. “We must have the idea, know who we have to address and find very good travel companions”, concluded Sebastián.
Open space to dialogue
To finish the session, there was time for the presentation of companies that are active and complementary to the management of cultural heritage in the province of Zaragoza. They come from fields as diverse as audiovisual production, surrounding architecture, cultural production, or the revitalization and promotion of tourism, however they are all essential in the sector, because as the head of the MOMAr project, Isabel Soria, indicated: “the administrations provide the means, but it is the companies that execute the management models that we promote from MOMAr, so we seek a joint path”. The invited companies were Trazacultura, AdHoc, Albella Audiovisual, Arquitectura de Entorno, Arte por Cuatro, Girola and Viajar por Aragón.
You can watch the session here
