Revitalisation with community
Slovenia
Nava Vardjan
Knowledge transfer, Local community building, Network for preservation of crafts, Presentation of crafts

Dobra pot Institute is community-centric, meaning that most of their work stems from collaborating with the local community. They engage local residents in cultural heritage initiatives, including organizing workshops and events that directly involve community members, encouraging them to share their skills and knowledge. They foster an intergenerational dialogue with emphasizing the importance of knowledge transfer between generations (i.e. Zapisi spomina (Records of Memory) project, where they encouraged elderly members of the community to share their stories and knowledge, another example are the documentary films and videos, documenting a specific skill like weaving, stonemasonry, or knowledge, available on Dobra pot’s YouTube channel). The institute is also very good at their responsiveness; they are very open to feedback and suggestions, for which they make sure are heard and included in any way possible. This goes for any future plans, projects, events, views on past organizations or contents etc. During their active years, their support, engagement in involvement in the workshops, events and other collaborations has grown significantly, with number of participants growing steadily, although the participants remain mostly middle-aged or older people. Furthermore, their recognition and participation has also grown in connection with other local initiatives and organizations, fostering community cohesion. Especially important for involving the local community is their work with educational institutions, where they include children in schools, as well as college students. They either educate them on different aspects of (cultural) heritage or provide opportunities for them to participate in workshops, or encourage them to participate in different phases of the projects, for example with recording oral histories from their elderly family members, or photography and videography students providing visual media for documentaries etc. This is possible because the institute emphasizes connecting aspects of heritage with modern technology, in part providing a bridge to involvement with heritage for the youth (apps, 3D-scanners, social media), but also providing educational courses for educating others on how to connect heritage and digital technologies.

Revitalisation with community