During the week of 29 November to 3 December, more than 22 members of the 4 cultural routes of the Council of Europe that make up the consortium of the Creative Europe WalkEur project met at the headquarters of the AEPJ in Barcelona. The project is lead by the Routes of the Emperor Charles V, and has as international partners the European Association for the preservation and enhancement of the Jewish Heritage (Luxembourg), the European Ceramic Route Association (Italy), and ATRIUM-Architecture of the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century (Italy), all of them Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe.

During these training days, the theme of Cultural Management was discussed from the point of view of the challenges faced by the institutions that work with this type of routes and the solutions that can be found through innovation in this sector.

Izmir Sephardic Culture Festival is organized for the third time this year, with the contributions of Konak Municipality, to bring together the contributions of the Sephardic community, who has lived in Izmir since the 16th century, to the city and its culture, with unique events.

Sephardic Jews, who had to leave the Iberian Peninsula in the 15th century, embraced the cultural elements of the Muslim and Christian societies with which they shared life in Izmir, where different cultures and beliefs have lived side by side for thousands of years. As a result of this, a “Sephardic Culture”, which is perhaps unique in the world and unique only to Izmir, has emerged with its music, cuisine, traditions and reflections on art.

In addition to the boyoz and dwarf, which are almost identified with İzmir, historical synagogues with different architectures, Ladino folk songs and many other values have taken their place in the cultural treasure of the city.

Last 3rd of November, François Moyse, president of the Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish and European Culture and Heritage, participated as a speaker at the colloquium on Moroccan-Jewish culture held at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, where he spoke about the missions of the AEPJ and its actions to promote initiatives that foster a better knowledge of European history and awareness of cultural diversity. The colloquim highlighted the dimension of “Living Together” and the intercultural dialogue: the model of Judeo-Moroccan culture.

It was organised at the initiative of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe (EPA) in cooperation with the Consulate General of the Kingdom of Morocco in Strasbourg.

The NOA (Network Overcoming Antisemitism) project had its first in-person meeting on the 27th and 28th October since the pandemic began. The two day-long meeting allowed partners to review and discuss the first research findings and to plan ahead more in-person activities. Representatives from the 6 networks that work in the project met at the CEJI‘s and B’nai B’rith Europe offices in Brussels. In addition to AEPJ and the aforementioned institutions, the other partners of the NOA project are the European Union of Jewish Students, the European Union for Progressive Judaism and the World Jewish Congress.

The NOA Project, offers a pioneering approach to tackle the problem of rising antisemitism in Europe. With its unique partnership of major Jewish networks, it will evaluate EU Member States’ policies across areas, from education to culture and security, and help them to develop holistic national action plans to address and prevent antisemitism.

Our partnership with the National Library of Israel has meant growth in every way in the development of the European Days of Jewish Culture. Caron Sethill and his team from the Gesher L’Europa program at the National Library of Israel are a constant source of inspiration. Their educational approach to archival work for heritage practitioners has facilitated the creation of a unique bridge to the general public, in the transmission of Jewish heritage.

We are very proud to report that in the framework of the European project WalkEUR, part of the Creative Europe program, the National Library of Israel has been selected as a good practice in the field of the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe.

Based at the University of Oxford, the Jewish Country Houses Project takes country houses as a starting point for opening up a much broader intellectual agenda at the interface between Jewish history, art history and heritage culture. A distinctive feature of this AHRC-funded project is the way in which it brings scholars and heritage professionals together to map out a new heritage landscape. Before the pandemic we met at conferences which we organised in partnership with historic houses like Waddesdon Manor and Villa Kerylos: this proved a very powerful way of fostering personal and intellectual connections. Now, many events are held over Zoom, which allows us to create a more regular contact, one that renders the network meaningful in a different way.