CAST kick-off partner meeting in Visnja Gora, Slovenia 3rd-5th June 2025

In early June, the project partners of the CAST project – Culture transforming communities and economies – gathered in Višnja Gora, Slovenia, a small town in the Ivančna Gorica Municipality, for the first live meeting. Over two days of collaboration and exchange, the CAST project was officially launched, bringing together 14 partners and pilot areas from across the Danube Region. It was an excellent opportunity to kick the project off on-site as well, meet and get to know each other – but not just this – to exchange ideas, visions, and set goals for the first period of the project. Stakeholders coming from civil society, academia, and local authorities had the chance to exchange best practices and explore inclusive models of cultural tourism. 

The two-day programme consisted of a good mixture of theoretical and practical seminars. URBASOFIA from Romania played an active role in facilitating two key workshops designed to initiate collaboration and peer learning among project partners and pilot sites: The Speed Dating – Getting to know pilot session created an engaging space for participants to exchange insights on local cultural resources, challenges, and expectations through structured rapid dialogues. The World Café on Competencies and Motivations, co-facilitated with MOME Budapest and The Collective Foundation, focused on mapping the partners’ core competencies, motivations, and target groups. The outcomes will feed into the development of shared indicators and a common participatory model for cultural identity-based actions. 

The partners were also introduced to the EUSDR Priority Area 3 CLOSe project. Additionally, IDM – the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe, which leads the project’s communication activities – presented a comprehensive overview of the developed Communication Strategy. 

The study visit also provided a great opportunity for partners to exchange diverse ideas and implementation approaches. A very inspiring idea came from the Transylvania Trust Foundation, whose training programmes on built heritage conservation resonated with other project partners. While the restoration of heritage buildings remains a widespread challenge across Europe, the Foundation’s model offers a practical solution: architecture students from around the world are invited to take part in hands-on restoration work at the historic Bánffy Castle, gaining experience while contributing to the site’s preservation. The Initiative “Rivers of Sofia” was presented by the Collective, based in the Bulgarian capital. Their project not only revitalised Sofia’s urban riverbanks but also successfully reactivated elements of the city’s cultural heritage, turning neglected public spaces into vibrant areas of civic and cultural engagement.  

In addition to the workshops, partners took part in a series of study visits.  

Participants explored first the Carniolan Bee House, which is managed by the Institute for Culture and Tourism Nice and Homely Ivančna Gorica. The interactive exhibition focused on the unique Carniolan honeybee, which is a remarkable subspecies native to Europe. The participants could experience engaging multimedia stories, where they were invited into the world of the Rothschütz beekeeping family—and into the fascinating life of bees themselves. The museum also includes a unique bee-themed hostel, where the project partners could experience what it feels like to sleep inside a hive. The rooms are designed as innovative wooden honeycomb cells, paying tribute to the architecture and rhythm of a real beehive. 

The surrounding area of Ivančna Gorica offered many more wonderful examples of how local cultural heritage can be presented in a way that is both sustainable and environmentally friendly. One of these was the Pristava Tourist Village – a collection of four farms that provide unique rural experiences and a variety of activities for families and nature lovers. In addition, the partners also had the chance to visit the Educational Beehive as well as the Jurčič Homestead, home of the well-known Slovenian writer. These site visits offered valuable insights into sustainable tourism practices and culture-based development at the local level. 

We thank Nice&Homely and Iskriva, Institute for Development of Local Potentials for the excellent organization and hosting of the Kick-off event, and all CAST partners for their valuable contributions.