European project SKIVRE – Multiplier event in Bulgaria

Posted on November 12, 2020 by Angela Ivanova in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Topic of the event “Development of skills for valorisation of the European religious heritage and good practices”

The Bulgarian capital Sofia hosted an event organized by “INI-Novation Bulgaria” OOD. under the European project SKIVRE on October 26, 2020.

Participants were representatives from different sectors such as tourism, regional development, students at the Faculty of Theology at Sofia University „St. Kliment Ohridski“, representatives of monastic shops and retailers offering monastic products, as well as other stakeholders interested in the topic “Development of skills for valorization of European religious heritage and good practice”.

The event was organized as a multiplier seminar in Bulgaria in the name of the European project SKIVRE, funded by ERASMUS+ Programme. It presented the results that the partners in the project achieved during their two years of hard work: the SKIVRE Training Program including 10 learning modules and the illustration of many good practices. They were demonstrated during the event as well as the SKIVRE’s online training platform, through which all training materials can be freely accessed by interested stakeholders for self-learning purposes (https://training.skivre.eu/main/toolbox.php).

Topics such as “Monastery production as an exciting connection between the past and the future” were presented by Ms. Diana Georgieva, as well as the results of a market analysis study conducted in 20 European monasteries by the SKIVRE project partners under the lead of Ms. Angela Ivanova from “INI-Novation Bulgaria” OOD. Video presentations of the good practices from Bulgaria “The Kremikovtsi Monastery “St. George the Victorious”, Tsurnogorski Monastery ” St. Kozma and Damian” and the German Monastery “Kloster Bronnbach ” were shown.

Dr. Wolfgang Kniejski, Managing Director of “INI-Novation Bulgaria” OOD, presented an in-depth analysis of the role of monastic products in the development of the regions and the tourism industry. Examples of good practice were provided and many questions were discussed on how to build successful cooperation and networks of interaction between the representatives of tourism and monasteries in a given region.

Additionally, the seminar included external speakers, such as Ms. Blagovesta Chifligarova, an expert in the field of tourism in Bulgaria. She shared her experience in the field of religious tourism in Bulgaria with the other participants, presenting the topic “Religious tourism and its benefits for the development of the regions.” Other external participants also got involved and introduced the audience to their good practices. Due to the great interest and the inability to attend in person, participants had the opportunity to join and participate online in the event.

SKIVRE visit in Tsarnogorski monastery in Bulgaria

Posted on May 10, 2019 by Angela Ivanova in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

SKIVRE Partners on a visit in Tsarnogorski Monastery, Bulgaria, Source: http://www.svetogorie.com

As part of the planned project meeting in Bulgaria organised by INI-Novation Bulgaria, the SKIVRE project team visited the Tsarnogorski Monastery “St. St. Cosmas and Damian”, also well-known Giginski Monastery. On May 8th 2019, the partners met the Abbot Archimandrite Nikanor and during the conversation, in the process of bilateral acquaintance, topics related to the aims of the project, as well as issues related to religions, Christianity and the holy Orthodox Church, were discussed.

The SKIVRE project, abbreviated as Skills Development for the Valorisation of European Religious Heritage, has the ultimate goal of developing a 10-module educational program to support the development of production and the management of various monastic products. The modules will be and uploaded on a special online platform to serve for training monks, hired workers in monasteries, volunteers, etc.

The SKIVRE team brings together representatives of various civil and Christian organizations and companies from Germany, Belgium, Greece, Bulgaria and Austria. The implementation of the project is funded by the European program “Erasmus +” under funding number 2018-1-DE02-KA202-005023.

In front of the guests from Europe, the abbot of the Tsarnogorski Monastery archimandrite Nikanor talked about the ancient tradition that the Orthodox monks kept to sustain and develop their monasteries, thanks to their work and realization of products they produce. He shared the good experience of the monastery in the development of his own agriculture as well as buffalo and another livestock farming. He presented dairy and other products produced in the monastery, and shared his vision for development of pilgrimage tourism in the Pernik region.

Monastic shop in Tsarnogorski Monastery, Bulgaria

The cleric explained that the partnership with the project team will be a significant benefit for the monastery and for other Orthodox monasteries in the country, therefore, he appreciated a formal invitation for collaboration in the SKIVRE project.

SKIVRE partners expressed their interest in the initiative of the monastery to organize an exhibition event for monastic products, which since 2018 is performed within the framework of the Tsarnogorski folk fair. Furthermore, the opportunity was addressed, to jointly present the project results with INI-Novation Bulgaria at the official forum of the fair in 2020

At the end of the meeting, SKIVRE partners visited the monastery churches and chapel, and got acquainted with the history of the monastery. They have also shown interest in the story of the miraculous icon of Most Holy Mother of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. After the highly appreciated visit, the Abbot Archimandrite Nikanor expressed his invitation to all SKIVRE partners to visit the monastery again.

This article is based on the original online publication of Tsarnogorski Monastery (www.svetogorie.com).

Find more photos on the Facebook page of the monastery following the link.

SKIVRE – Preserving Religious Heritage

Posted on December 1, 2018 by Angela Ivanova in Erasmus+, Erasmus+, Religious Heritage, Religious Heritage, SKIVRE, SKIVRE | Leave a comment

European Commission supports INI-Novation Bulgaria for Project Activities

In the next two years, INI-Novation Bulgaria participates in a high-class European consortium for a project in the preservation of the religious heritage. The European Commission is funding an initiative that will qualify religious institutions to professionally develop and distribute marketable monastic products. The first project meeting with ten representatives from six European countries took place in Bronnbach Monastery, Germany.

The SKIVRE project (“Skills Development for the Valorisation of European Religious Heritage”) will be financed by the European ERASMUS+ programme. The project manager Angela Ivanova names three objectives: To expand competence in European monasteries for the development, production and marketing of high-quality products, to establish Europe-wide sales strategies for monastic products and to revive the monasteries’ historical craftsmanship. Behind this is the clear intention to generate income through high-quality, authentic monastic products, which will directly benefit the preservation of the monasteries. The following are created

a multilingual training program for monastic employees, monks and nuns to professionalize the development, production and marketing of monastic products,
a user-friendly digital learning platform,
a handbook for monastic products with guidelines for professional production and marketing via trade, and
a publication on historical crafts in monasteries and their potential for social entrepreneurship in rural areas.

Monastic products for the preservation of religious heritage

The production of monastic products (e.g. handmade body care products (soaps, lotions, bread, jam, spirits, beer, wine, religious products) is a means of generating income and contributes to the preservation of the religious heritage and the safeguarding of jobs. Monasteries often could not survive without the production and sale of these products. The historical knowledge about the production of these products is part of the immaterial cultural heritage of Europe.

Religious Heritage in Danger

“The approval of the project and the associated funds are a clear recognition of our long-year efforts for heritage preservation” says Wolfgang Kniejski, Managing Director of INI-Novation. “This commitment has convinced the European Commission that INI-Novation Bulgaria is exactly the right part for this project”. INI-Novation Bulgaria have important tasks in the project implementation. The company is a leader of the work package related with the training modules creation tasks including a research targeting European monasteries in the partner countries.

“Our European religious heritage is in great danger of being unsustainable in the long term. According to a research with a topic “Current problems in preserving the monasteries in Bulgaria”, in the last few years there has been a steady decrease in visits and donations in Bulgarian monasteries by Bulgarian citizens. The reasons for this can be sought in the economic situation of the state and society. The production tradition has also been abolished – in the past the Bulgarian monasteries have been a serious producer of both agricultural and household items, but they have been selling them, but they have recruited their own support. Nowadays, a a few monasteries have own production that can financially support their existence, development and preservation of the religious heritage. SKIVRE project supports this process to recover the production tradition in the monasteries. INI-Novation Bulgaria has led or contributed to several European projects in recent years, related to preservation of the religious heritage. “We are now contributing these experiences to SKIVRE,” says the expert.

European cultural heritage seal for SKIVRE

The awarding of the seal of the European Cultural Heritage Year 2018 for the project came just in time for the first project meeting in Germany. “This makes our project visible throughout Europe as a contribution to the European Cultural Heritage Year 2018”, the German project coordinator Karin Drda-Kühn is pleased to say.

European expertise for the project

In addition to INI-Novation Bulgaria, the partnership comprises of a multidisciplinary European team representing the target groups and the expertise required for the sustainable impact of SKIVRE: media k GmbH as coordinator (Germany), Bronnbach monastery (Germany), the European network “Future for Religious Heritage” (Belgium), the two educational developers Wissenschaftsinitiative Niederösterreich (Austria) and INI-Novation (Bulgaria) as well as the digital development partner GU-net (Greece).

Contact:

Angela Ivanova, project manager, INI-Novation Bulgaria

email: angela.ivanova@ini-novation.com

EUROPETOUR: Training modules co-developed by a European team of experts

Posted on August 30, 2018 by Angela Ivanova in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

INI-Novation Bulgaria committed to training in cultural tourism in Bulgaria:

In cooperation between INI-Novation and 15 European experts, nine training units for providers of cultural tourism products and services in rural areas were created. Herewith, the European initiative EUROPETOUR supports the economic development of rural cultural tourism.

Over the past three years, the EUROPETOUR initiative has developed a modular training programme for cultural and touristic actors and institutions in rural areas in order to meet the needs and wishes of guests interested in culture even better and to make better use of the opportunities offered by social media. It is about destination characterization, development and positioning of touristic products and services, marketing strategy and planning, distribution and sales channels, communication strategy and planning, networking and cooperation, financial planning, development of a business plan.

The training modules are available free of charge in German, English, Spanish, Romanian, Bulgarian, Italian and Polish at www.europetour.tips and are already being successfully used for training in eight European regions.

Social media as a focal point of training in cultural tourism

Separate “Guidelines for Social Media in Rural Cultural Tourism” provide practical tips for the successful use of social media in rural cultural tourism and evaluate success factors of already existing good examples from all over Europe. For INI-Novation, this guide is particularly important: “The social media in particular can be of great help in attracting and satisfying guests, but we need in-depth knowledge for professional use, which EUROPETOUR now provides us with”.

Training modules for the European tourism market

In addition to INI-Novation Bulgaria, the European regions and countries Bukovina (Romania), Heilbronner Land (Germany), Cantabria (Spain), the Marche (Italy) and the Europe-wide network “Future for Religious Heritage”, the German cultural tourism network KIRA for Heilbronn-Franken, the German-Polish network “Klosterland” and the Austrian network “Kreativ Reisen Österreich” contributed to the development.

INI-Novation Bulgaria is proud to have participated in the development of the training units, “because we were able to bring in experience from our background as business developers and marketing expetrs and thus ensure that the training units start exactly where is need further training and can immediately apply it in practice,” says Angela Ivanova, project manager for Bulgaria.

The EUROPETOUR initiative has now been awarded the European Heritage Year Label by the European Commission – an award for projects promoting the preservation of cultural heritage. “We are of course particularly proud of this sign of European appreciation for our region”, says Angela Ivanova.

For further information:

Angela Ivanova, EUROPETOUR project manager for Bulgaria

Email: angela.ivanova@ini-novation.com

EUROPETOUR team with Angela Ivanova INI-Novation Bulgaria OOD

INI-Novation Bulgaria is a host of training sessions for cultural tourism start-ups

Posted on April 7, 2017 by Angela Ivanova in Events, Start-ups | Leave a comment

The city of Veliko Tarnovo, a hotbed for cultural traditions & crafts production in north central Bulgaria, hosted the training session, organized by INI-Novation Bulgaria, as part of the International Tourism Fair “Cultural Tourism”.

This event proved to be a great success: representatives from municipalities, art organisations, tourism agencies and single start-ups showed a lot of interest in the presentations of EUROPETOUR partners Karin Drda-Kühn (Kultur und Arbeit e.V., Germany), Angela Ivanova (INI-Novation), Wolfgang Kniejski (INI-Novation), Lacramioara Beilic (Bucovina Tourism, Romania) and Antonio Kuzmanovski (Macedonian start-up “WheninX“).

THE MULTIPLIER EVENT

After an introduction about the vision of EUROPETOUR by Karin Drda-Kühn (Kultur und Arbeit e.V., Germany), Angela Ivanova (INI-Novation Bulgaria) presented the EUROPETOUR training modules and one of the main topics of interest for the Bulgarian tourism stakeholders and mainly startups in tourism: Positioning, branding, marketing of cultural tourism in rural areas and the importance of networking. Her presentation was built on so called case-based learning: By providing a best practice example surrounded by theoretical knowledge and practical exercises, a better understanding about the specifics of the topic was achieved.

After that, Lacramioara Beilic (Bucovina Tourism, Romania) presented the region of Bucovina as a best practice example and opportunity for collaboration between Bulgarian and Romanian stakeholders. She highlight her “vision for networking”, sharing what the Bucovina region did for addressing the specific needs of cultural travellers in a successful way.

Wolfgang Kniejski (INI-Novation Bulgaria) gave a deep overview of financing instruments with special emphasis on topics such as value generation chains in cultural tourism, business planning, sales and distribution, as well as market-oriented financing. Best practise examples were provided and many insides about how to build a successful project idea were discussed.

At the end, a best practice presentation about distribution policies from Macedonia complemented the event. Antonio Kuzmanovski, CEO of the Macedonian start-up “WheninX“, presented a service-driven technological solution for fostering cultural programmes for locals and visitors.

EUROPETOUR – new training for cultural tourism in rural areas

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Angela Ivanova in Training, Training, Training, Training, Training | Leave a comment

A young girl by cell phone photographed of The smallest cathedral in the world, church of the Holy cross, Nin, Croatia

Being successful in cultural tourism needs training for cultural workers, tourism experts, business developers and representatives of public authorities. In urban areas there already are numerous examples for successful cooperation, but good practice in rural areas is rather rare. Specifically, training is needed in professionally using social media and online marketing of tourism services. Identifying the actual training needs is one of the objectives of EUROPETOUR and developing a detailed training program accordingly. EUROPETOUR will be implemented until 2018 in eight European regions, supported by the European ERASMUS+ programme.

First of all, the project partners aim at identifying the necessary steps for successful cultural tourism development in rural areas. In a second step, training modules for local stakeholders wishing to develop or foster their own skills are established, including guidelines for the use of social media as well as online marketing in cultural heritage, and cultural tourism. The guidelines will be available in seven European languages in order to get European outreach.

European travellers on their way to discover cultural heritage

Additionally, all project partners to EUROPETOUR have committed to developing networked, tangible offers and ready-made packages across Europe. In this way, travellers with a special interest in, say, castles and monasteries or creative travel, should end up with a tailor-made travel arrangement allowing them to explore the Italian region Marke, the Spanish region Cantabria or the German region of the Heilbronner Land in a similar way. Opportunities provided by social media as well as the use of mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablets, are to be directly addressed. The goal is to generate income for cultural tourism stakeholders, to develop attractive packages for cultural travellers and to benefit from the best-practice examples demonstrated by the project partners across Europe.

Participating partners and cultural touristic networks