Hamningberg in Finnmark county is one of eleven projects that are part of a programme for creating new opportunities based upon our cultural heritage. Photo: Morten Thorkildsen©Riksantikvaren

In 2006, the Directorate for Cultural Heritage in Norway and the Ministry for the Environment initiated the programme “Creating New Assets in the Cultural Heritage Sphere”. The background to this programme has been the desire for cultural heritage and the cultural environment to be used to a greater extent as resources in the development of vibrant local communities, and as the basis for new economic activities.

 

Cultural heritage as the basis for creating new assets
Nationally and internationally, more and more attention has been focused on how cultural heritage and the cultural environment can contribute to social, cultural and economic development. This interaction represents great potential for employment and settlement in many towns and villages, both along the coast and inland.

The aim of the programme
This programme of creating new assets will contribute towards cultural heritage being used as a resource in societal development by
– using cultural heritage for the maximum benefit of the population, business and industry, the local community and the regions
– taking better care of the cultural heritage
– developing and spreading knowledge about the cultural heritage as a resource

Pilot projects
The Directorate for Cultural Heritage selected ten pilot projects from among seventy applications. In 2005, a trial project was started in Nordland, initiated by the Directorate for Cultural Heritage and Nordland County. “The Value of the Coastal Culture” has the same aims as the projects in the new assets programme and is categorized as a pilot project in the same way as the other ten. In these projects, cultural heritage will be integrated in different contexts, including the identification of good models of co-operation, methods and procedures.

The projects will trigger engagement and resources from the population, business and industry and the authorities at all levels and in different sectors, and will work towards a sustainable use of the cultural heritage and cultural environment that will also pay heed to the limits of their endurance. The projects will further develop and spread knowledge about the cultural heritage as a resource, amongst other things through research and development work, with the help of different networks.

In the selection of these projects there has been a special emphasis on finding good projects, particularly from the coastal zone, as part of aiming for coastal culture, but also from towns and centres of population, and projects linked to the agrarian cultural landscape. The link with outdoor-life-based initiatives plays a further, major role in many of these projects.

The programme will be carried out in two phases. The first phase lasts for four years, from 2006 to 2010. What will happen in the second phase depends on the results and experiences harvested in the course of the first phase.

Obtaining knowledge and exchanging experiences
The programme consists of two principal elements: the pilot projects and a network to obtain knowledge, as well as exchanging experiences.

The pilot projects form part of a local and/or regional stategy of creating new assets and innovation. The county or municipal council is the regional development actor and is central to several of the projects, but the owners, business partners, other private and public actors and volunteer organizations are all important.

There is a clear intention that the projects should establish a sense of community between the different actors, right across the traditional specialist and sector boundaries. The aim is to create a “bring your own” atmosphere, where funds awarded by the Directorate for Cultural Heritage to the projects are part of a co-operation with other public and private resources.

In order to achieve greater results from the programme, follow-up research are initiated in connection with the pilot projects, and the programme will be evaluated.