Exploring storytelling to create engaging tourism experiences

This phase of the project focuses on creating stakeholder engagement and participatory governance. This two-day gathering was dedicated to sharing insights from our collective research into each partner's Jewish heritage. The project partners were brought together to monitor progress, share results, exchange ideas, and explore strategies to unlock the touristic potential of Jewish cultural heritage as leverage for sustainable tourism. They presented the first findings on the current state of Jewish cultural heritage promotion across regions, identifying strengths and challenges to develop innovative, tailor-made public policies.

Lieux de mémoire, lieux d’imagination

During a field trip to the Jewish neighbourhood in Antwerp, the participants, among whom also our colleagues Veronica Bova, Patricia Leis and Johan Oudijk, experienced, in small groups, how storytelling can bring cultural heritage to life. We had designed 3 different guided tours across the neighbourhood, each with a story told by a fictitious but truthful character impersonated by several people from our BUas team and showing the neighbourhood from a first-person perspective. Participants learnt how lieux de mémoire, lieux d’imagination, and so-called trigger objects can serve to follow the storyline. 

The next day, each group presented what had touched them, surprised them, and what they would remember best based on the photos they had taken during the tour. Moniek then gave insights into the storytelling techniques used to design the stories and the tours and we discussed the implications of designing a guided tour with storytelling.

The main take-aways are: make sure (when introducing a degree of fiction in a cultural heritage context) that the characters are truthful; engage the audience by asking them questions; do not push meaning but create subtext so that people can derive their own meaning; integrate universal values that anyone can relate to, regardless of their background.   

JEWish hEritage as Leverage for Sustainable TOURism

The JEWELS TOUR project, financed by Interreg Europe, is dedicated to preserving and enhancing the Jewish Cultural Heritage. The project seeks to empower policymakers with a comprehensive portfolio of best practices, expand their knowledge and skills in cultural heritage valorisation, and strengthen the networks between public authorities and local stakeholders. Moreover, the project aims to create and promote replicable (digital) solutions for cultural heritage enhancement.

The project unites eight partners and three associated policy authorities.

Ferrara Municipality (Italy)
Ośrodek "Brama Grodzka - Teatr NN” (Poland)
Coimbra Municipality (Portugal)
City of Erfurt (Germany)
Lublin Municipality (Poland)
Riga Investment and Tourism Agency (Latvia)
Regional Development Agency of Lviv Region (Ukraine)
Breda University of Applied Sciences 

JEWELS TOUR - JEWish hEritage as Leverage for Sustainable TOURism | Interreg Europe