Abstract:

Analysis presented in this paper is a part of a broader H2020 collaborative research project “Cultural Heritage and Identities of Europe’s Future” (CHIEF, agreement no. 770464) on how young people are engaging with meanings and forms of European cultural heritage in various educational contexts, e.g. school, civil society, family peer groups and heritage sites, and whether this engagement leads to an increase in their cultural literacy. With the aim to compare how the cultural heritage is represented and offered to young people in the mainstream heritage site and in the alternative heritage site, the National History Museum of Latvia and the Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre were selected. At these cultural heritage sites the following activities were carried out: observation, the selection of experts and conduction of semi-structured in-depth interviews with experts. Interviewing made it possible to clarify experts’ subjective experience and shape an inter-subjective narrative on the concept of cultural heritage, the national cultural policy and problems related to its implementation in particular heritage sites. When analysing publicity materials, website homepages and social networking sites, the interview data and field notes by applying the narrative inquiry approach, thematic clusters were established.

They helped to create the typology of common elements and arrive at generalised conclusions with regard to:
(1) the implementation of the cultural heritage policy in heritage sites;
(2) understanding of the concepts “culture”, “national cultural heritage”, “regional cultural heritage”, “European cultural heritage”;
(3) the contribution of cultural heritage sites to the enhancement of young people’s cultural literacy.

Keywords:

Cultural education, cultural literacy, cultural heritage site, cultural policy.