We are pleased to announce the launch of the “Training for the Contact Zone” (TCZ), an Erasmus+ Adult Education project, running from 1st September 2024 to 31st August 2026. The project aims to raise awareness about the importance and challenges that museums and heritage sites face in reaching and serving a broad and diverse audience.
TCZ helps cultural and heritage staff create new forms of activities that strengthen cultural belonging. Through innovative curricula and training, we enhance their knowledge, skills, and confidence – empowering them to develop dialogue-based and co-creative processes. This work leads to dynamic new ways of presenting heritage: from telling stories through objects in virtual spaces to co-creating narratives with diverse communities across Europe.
TCZ Consortium, Amsterdam – October 1st, 2025 ©LNDWStudio
In the past months, the Training for the Contact Zone team has been co-creating a curriculum for the upcoming TCZ trainings. This curriculum is the result of a collaborative process, starting with a needs assessment where all partners shared insights into their local contexts, challenges, and resources. TCZ has been testing it during the first phase of pilot trainings. Click here to read more about the Amsterdam pilot!
Become part of the TCZ Community and join us for its first hybrid conference!
“Contact Zones in Practice”
A Training Model for Cultural Democracy, Dialogue, and Structural Change
2-3 December 2025
Goethe-Institut Bucharest, Dorobanți 32
Purpose of the conference
Across Europe, societies are facing major challenges: increasing political polarisation, shrinking civic and cultural spaces, and growing distrust in democratic processes. In this context, cultural and heritage work—carried out by institutions, educators, artists, cultural practitioners, and policymakers—plays a vital role in shaping shared and liveable realities.
“Contact Zones in Practice” – A Training Model for Cultural Democracy, Dialogue, and Structural Change will explore the following key question: How can we create spaces that foster reflection, dialogue, and collective agency, even in the face of conflicting perspectives or contested histories?
What to Expect
During the conference participants will:
- Reflect on the rise of polarisation and anti-democratic shifts across Europe and their relationship with culture and heritage.
- Explore the TCZ curriculum as a tested framework for inclusive and participatory practices.
- Discuss how TCZ tools can strengthen cultural democracy, civic engagement in local realities and intercultural exchange.
- Consider how methodologies developed in the TCZ can inform cultural policies and contribute to structural changes.
Follow the project development on:
– The TCZ website: Training for the Contact Zone
– Instagram: training_contactzone
– Facebook: Training for the Contact Zone
Training for the Contact Zone will be realised by:
TCZ project addresses the needs identified by the Heritage Contact Zone (HCZ), an EU-funded project under the European Year of Cultural Heritage (2018 to 2020). One of its final outcomes was the HCZ Toolkit an online handbook, free to access via: HCZ Toolkit.