Paper short abstract:

The European Union brings divers European actors together by co-financing cultural cooperation projects. Which actors have access to and stay on this platform provided by the EU Culture Programme? What do they add to the understanding of cultural heritage at a European and international level?

Paper long abstract:

The Lisbon Treaty revers to cultural heritage in its Article 3.3.: "The Union shall respect its rich cultural and linguistic diversity, and shall ensure that Europe's cultural heritage is safeguarded and enhanced". Therefore the European Union can only support and supplement actions of its Member States. One of the major supporting strategies is the EU Culture Programme. From the 103 cooperation projects which have received funding for the period between May 2011 and April 2013, thirteen describe themselves as pertaining to cultural heritage.

In my paper I propose to retrace these specific projects. Who are the actors that benefit from the EU's co-financing? Which geographical and institutional background do they have? Are there hierarchical differences?

In a second step I will analyse what definition and description of cultural heritage can be deducted from these projects. Is cultural heritage used to re-construct a collective or to critically point at superposed discourses?

And finally I will look into the project "Childhood. Remains and Heritage" which is running till April 2013. The partners in this project, the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant in Bucharest, the Museum of Lebork and "Artees" in Paris investigate European childhood. They aim at creating an itinerant exhibition as well as a common working platform for exchange between cultural professionals and artists. What motivation was behind their decision to apply for the EU Cultural Programme? And in the end who decides which artefacts are collected and shown in which cities and in which manner?