education, design, innovations, consumer working together can significantly change the role of this

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1 REGIO N AL COO PER AT ION FO R CR AFT S D EVELO P M ENT NEW SLETTER #5, AUTUMN -W INTER 2014 Crafts it s not just creating jewellery or building log houses. It is passion. Everything that a craftsman creates with his five senses vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch is an unbelievable value. For an individual, for the society, for the ethnic community. Time for Crafts 2.0! Unique signs and ornaments that are embedded in the masterpieces create patriotism and generate the feeling of community of being united, being one of a kind. The whole Europe has similarities in their craftsmen products indicating that we all are one. It is not just a way of expression but also a thing that lift out identities to a complete new level. It reminds us about ancient communities and about where we came from. Crafts are like an original code, like DNA that reflects past and defines way of living. Crafts are the backbone of a nation. We do believe that if crafts have survived for thousands of years then it will survive nowadays as well. Yet the truth is a bit different. In last few decades it has become just a hobby. Thus crafts can be much more. It can lift the spirit; it can sharpen regional and national economies. A complex solution education, design, innovations, consumer working together can significantly change the role of this industry creating new jobs, making products more attractable, establishing the feeling that local is better. Our project has worked with just these reasons to bring back the glitter of past and today we achieved a lot. The final conference really was a platform for discussion between craftsman, different institutions, education representatives and end users consumers. Zemgale Planning Region s team truly believes that the ice has shaken. Thank you for being with us all the time of project s implementation! Together we can! Together we all have really started the reconstruction of crafts version 2.0 (with all the glory and prestige of past)! Dace Strautkalne, project manager Project "REGIO-CRAFTS", or in full name "Regional Cooperation for Crafts' Development", is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and made possible by the INTERREG IV C programme. Total budget is ,62 EUR, where 85% is co-financed by ERDF.

2 TWO YEARS IN FEW PARAGRAPHS: WHAT HAVE WE ACHIEVED Every great story begins with Once upon a time.... During practical sessions of all the good practice ExOurs began almost two years ago in Zemgale, Latvia. change visits partners and craftsmen from six countries visited numerous craftsmen, including glass factory, In April of 2012 partners met for the first time to discuss cork-product shop, and ethnographic complex and interactual issues and crafts policies in six EU countries: national fairs. Bulgaria, Greece, Latvia, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. During this meeting the problems were studied and main course of work was clarified. Just before holiday season of 2013 partners from the Netherlands in Leeuwarden held workshop where we became acquainted with the pressure cooker method: designers and craftsmen working together for a common goal to create new products in short amount of time. In just two years partners have created policy implementation plans, book about good practices in Europe, different promotional materials including brochure and videos, held different local events, beginning the movement of Crafts 2.0 new generation of crafts industry, suitable for 21st century. The spirits are high and we all have feeling that a great work has been done that in a long term will improve this precious and historical industry. Sunny Portugal invited us with a seminar held on 14th of May The topic covered design innovation and These two years have been a great period for all of us! regional creative industries. There were sessions about Just like every fairy tale that begins with Once upon a combining sustainable design and creative industries. time! According to the three different parts of the forum, debate sessions took place about sustainable design innovations, design and crafts best practices and creative entrepreneurship. Topic about training, education and skills transfer was headline for meeting in Gabrovo, Bulgaria. Another important highlight Marketing and different ways of promotion of crafts was covered during the meeting in Greece (March, 2014) and last seminar General policy development and design for strengthening craft industry was held in Spain, providing much needed ideas about support mechanisms and the way it can improve the industry.

3 CREATING SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIES: FINAL CONFERENCE European Crafts Conference which was the final event for Regio-Crafts project took place on 21st October, 2014 in the new building of National Library of Latvia, Riga and joined more than 200 participants that represented craftsmen, stakeholders, decision makers and experts from the fields of education, culture and economy. Only skill can create quality. And quality creates culture. Country which can t defend quality is determined to disappear. Thank you for the conference! Vilnis Kazāks, Latvian Chamber of Crafts, President of Honor The conference was extremely well organized and useful! Kristīne Kūla, Ethnographic Open Air Museum of Latvia, assistant director

4 I have a lot of ideas after the event. It is clear that we have craftsmen, but EU has to define who can call themselves as masters. Thank you for your work and I wish that this movement doesn t stop! It has inspired a lot of people that want to create vision for future. Sanita Behmane Baibakova Excellent organization, outstanding venue, well thought out presentations, new contacts it is just small part of my positive emotions from the conference. This event was really positive and emotionally charging! Raita Stepāne Things heard in the conference motivate us to solve problems in our local crafts center and create new goals! Ilma Svilāne, museum Sēlija in Viesīte, Latvia

5 It was a great conference extremely well organized and excellent content. Pat Reynolds, Heritage Crafts Association Thank you for the opportunity to meet new people and get useful contacts! Inese Roze, Drabeši manor crafts center, director

6 ZEMGALE PLANNING REGION CREATES VIDEOS ABOUT CRAFTS While implementing EU co-finansed Regio-Crafts project the team marked many goals that should be achieved with this project in order to develop crafts industry. First of all the fundamental goal was to provide changes in legal acts. Secondly to analyse good practices in other countries and implement them locally. Third we wanted to improve demand of products made by craftsmen, explains project manager Dace Strautkalne. The only way how to reach these objectives is to work with all the elements laws, development of crafts and the consumer. Just when all of these phases work together it is possible to provide frame where consumer and producer/seller as well as local economy can get highest benefit. To promote Latvian traditions and products of craftsmen, lead partner of Regio-Crafts project has presented four videos Craftsmanship in Latvia that not only inspire consumers to visit country s regions but also provide insight of cultural heritage and role of history in modern world, inviting consumers to buy locally made products. Craftsmanship in Latvia is a story about four fields of crafts. Latvia Makes shows what a man can do with bare hands. The creation of pottery, sculptures and other artistic products is shown in Latvia Shapes clip, but Latvia Sounds focuses on creation of musical instruments. The last video spool Latvia Tastes Good is most favoured because it tells about small farmsteads and the food products they make from cheese to sweets and wine. The combined length of these videos is almost 30 minutes and they are created in English and Latvian languages. Contact us: Zemgale Planning region Dace Strautkalne Dace.Strautkalne@zpr.gov.lv "Central Stara Planina" Mariela Petrova rso-csp@rso-csp.org The Legacy of al-andalus Julia Sáiz-Pardo de Benito Project communication manager jsp@legadoandalusi.es Municipality of Paggaio Konstantinos Varytis kostasbar@hotmail.com Foundation Kulturele Haadsted 2018 Simon Tijsma S.Tijsma@fryslan.nl Cascais Town Hall Ana Mestre Ana.Mestre@susdesign.pt