The Next Routes Transnational training for cultural routes staff took place in Selinunte (Sicily, Italy)in early December, hosted by the Phoenicians’ Route, lead partner of the project, and was designed to enhance digital, creative, and gamification knowledge, skills, and competencies of staff working in various capacities in six Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe.

The training featured four workshop modules developed by the Breda University of Applied Sciences, intended specifically for the representatives of the Cultural Routes participating in the project. The training for representatives of the Cultural Routes addressed the development of digital competencies for marketing, promotion, and communication of cultural heritage, to foster audience engagement. On behalf of AEPJ, The Together Plan, developer of the Jewish route through Belarus, in the framework of the European Routes of Jewish Heritage, participated actively in the full programme, and will be planning subsequent activities throughout 2025 to disseminate the outputs of the project.

On November 2024, a Shtetl Routes Network Incubator seminar took place at the ‘Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre’ Centre in Lublin with the aim of building and strengthening a community of people from Poland and Ukraine involved in working with Jewish cultural heritage through various activities (cultural, educational, artistic, museum, ethnographic, tourist, documentary, Internet, other).

The three-day program of the seminar included workshops on the MiDorLeDor methodology for Jewish heritage education, lectures intended to highlight the specificities of the Shtetl Route, unique as it connects Jewish legacy in the transborder region with Ukraine and Belarus, discussion panels regarding the current deals for Jewish heritage education, and showcases of cultural products that are contributing to the Jewish culture dissemination such as concerts and visits to places and memorials related to the history of Lublin’s Jews.

The AEPJ member Taube Center for Jewish Life & Learning launched the training for educators of Mi Dor Le Dor Europe. A diverse group of 28 professionals, including experts in Jewish heritage, educators from both formal and informal settings, tour and museum guides, and members of Jewish community organizations, came together in Warsaw to embark on this new edition of the training programme.

The program began with a warm welcome from Helena Czernek at the Mi Polin Mezuzah Center, located on Złota 62 Street. This unique space serves as both a Jewish mini-museum and a design store. Participants engaged in a workshop and explored the center before taking a short tour of one of the most significant surviving remnants of the Warsaw Ghetto, located in the courtyard of the building at Złota 62.

As along Autumn the members of MDLDE programme have been launching the training for educators events, recently in November Route du Judaisme Rhenan organised the opening seminar for the Upper Rhine, a transnational programme mixing Jewish heritage edcuators and guides from France, Germany and Switzerland. The event was hosted by the Blaues Haus in Breisach (Germany), a key remembrance and education centre for the exploration of the region’s Jewish cultural heritage.

The day began with avisit to the iconic St. Stephen’s Cathedral, where participants explored medieval representations of Jewish communities. This was followed by a formal opening at the Blaus Haus conference hall, featuring insightful presentations. Françoise Elkouby offered an Alsatian perspective on the Baden region, while Christiane Walesch-Schneller highlighted Breisach’s connections to Alsace.