The DIAZOMA association was founded on the initiative of the former Greek Minister of Culture Stavros Benos and brings together three “families”: the archaeological community (archaeologists, curators, conservators, etc.), Greek artists and intellectuals and local authorities (mayors, regional administrations and citizens).

Their fundamental goal is to shape vast social networks of synergies in order to protect and promote this unique category of monuments that are the ancient theatres. To this end, Diazoma cooperates on an ongoing basis with the Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs as well as with the Ministry of Culture and Sports and seeks to bring together and engage all actors of Greek society (population, mayors, prefects, universities, cultural associations) around this objective.

Raising awareness among the populations about the colossal cultural heritage and the unique potential of ancient theatres for their regions, having them participate in their preservation and revival, creating cultural routes and archaeological parks, organizing cultural events, enhancing the natural environment, adopting a charter of quality involving all the local actors (from small producers to local tourist companies), these are all steps to take towards the realisation of the ultimate vision of Diazoma : the sustainable development of regions around their cultural heritage.

As a result, theatres are at the heart of two key encounters: the one with the people and the other with tourism economy, environment and culture.

Synergies for the Promotion of the “Ancient Theatres of Epirus” Cultural Route

Fifty businesses of the “Ancient Theatres of Epirus” Business Cluster having recently obtained certification and received the Route Logo, which signifies that the goods and services provided by the logo-bearer are of the highest quality, a most interesting gastronomy and food tasting event took place in October.

The event took place during the FAM trip organised for journalists and bloggers from Greece and abroad (England, Germany, Italy, Israel) by the Region of Epirus on October 14-16 as part of its “Networking and Promoting Tourism in the Region of Epirus” and the First Combined Campaign on “Culture-Gastronomy” initiatives.

The active pursuit of synergies between members of the Route’s Cluster is one of the certification prerequisites, as synergies encourage the fostering of links between businesses that have elected to cooperate in order to improve the quality of the goods and services offered, sharing the common goal of promoting the Route as a destination.
This event is an excellent example of the “Ancient Theatres of Epirus” Cultural Route Business Cluster’s potential and momentum and creates a solid foundation for the programme’s sustainability.

Find out more about the Cultural Route

Cultural heritage professionals work a lot with different tourist organisations to promote their activities. Cultural heritage tourism is thus an important area for them to work with.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation defines cultural heritage tourism as “travel to experience the places, artefacts and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present, including cultural historic and natural resources.”

Cultural Heritage Tourism is one of the main tourism interests of the “Silver Tourist”, a tourist which is older of age and mostly looking for cultural related experiences when travelling. Being able to show potential donors and supporters, that “your” cultural heritage has raised interest from this target group can help you in your fundraising efforts.

Paying visitors are an important source of income for many cultural entities, and storytelling techniques can help you to capture this tourism segment. It is just 2 sides of the same coin.

Those working in this area can use the storytelling competences and skills acquired in SYNOPSIS training to help attract more silver tourists

If you want to know more on how to design a tourism experience for this particular target group (and use digital tools to do so), check out eSilverTour a project which aims to improve the quality of the tourist services promoted to this target group.

For more information, visit https://www.esilvertour.eu/

The STORIE project is focussed on the development of capacities of rural businesses to design and promote sustainable tourism products based on intangible cultural heritage. As in SYNOPSIS, STORIE has considered Storytelling and Narrative Techniques as key for the development, sustainability and growth of their businesses.

As such part of the training materials developed show rural businesses how to use creativity and storytelling to design and market their products and services which are based upon intangible cultural heritage. Materials also of interest for those active in the cultural sector.

According to UNESCO, intangible cultural heritage is the practices, expressions, knowledge and skills that communities, groups and sometimes individuals recognise as part of their cultural heritage. It includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.

While fragile, intangible cultural heritage is an important factor in maintaining cultural diversity in the face of growing globalisation. An understanding of the intangible cultural heritage of different communities helps with intercultural dialogue, and encourages mutual respect for other ways of life.

For more information about the STORIE project see: http://projectstorie.eu/