An academic project aiming to help build more inclusive notions of cultural heritage and identity has called on youth theatres to fully involve minority groups to create real diversity.
Cultural Heritage and Identities of Europe’s Future, also known as the CHIEF project, has been taking place across nine countries, with the UK research based at Aston University and the University of Gloucestershire.
The research is being coordinated by Dr Anton Popov, a senior lecturer in sociology and policy at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities at Aston University.
- Episode 7 - Researchers demand action by governments to tackle young people’s ‘limited opportunities’
A ‘sea-change’ approach from governments and policy makers is needed to improve ‘limited opportunities’ for young people across the UK and Europe.
That is one of the key recommendations of the Cultural Heritage and Identities of Europe's Future research project, also known as CHIEF, which took place across nine countries, with Aston University as the lead coordinator.
Dr Katie Tonkiss, a senior lecturer in Sociology and Policy at Aston, was one of the UK researchers and has been heavily involved in writing up CHIEF's overall policy brief and recommendations.
Release date: Tuesday 25th January 2022
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- Episode 6 - Research confirms gender imbalance for cultural activities in India
Young women in India feel a sense of “frustration” and “anger” as a result of gender divisions that still exist within cultural practices in their country.
To overcome such divisions, interventions will be needed not only by the state and cultural organisations, but also within families themselves.
That is the outcome of research which was carried out by Anagha Tambe and Neha Ghatpande from Savitribai Phule Pune University in the city of Pune, in the western state of Maharashtra.
Release date: Tuesday 18th January 2022
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- Episode 5 - International youth culture survey reveals important findings
It was a project that crossed international borders, all the way from the United Kingdom to Turkey and India.
And following the combined studies into young people’s cultural involvement, two researchers were tasked with coordinating the overall quantitative survey across all nine participating countries.
Their work formed part of the Cultural Heritage and Identities of Europe’s Future project, otherwise known as CHIEF, in which Aston University acted as lead coordinator for all the research.
They were Renata Franc, senior scientific adviser at the Ivo Pilar Institute of social sciences in Zagreb, Croatia, and Roger Soler-i-Martí, a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Communication at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain.
Release date: Friday 14th January 2022
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- Episode 4 - A group of young German art students helped stage a counter-exhibition at a museum that exposed their country's forgotten colonial history.
A group of young German art students helped stage a counter-exhibition at a museum that exposed their country's forgotten colonial history.
The exhibition, which looked at past and present issues of racism and discrimination, was a late replacement for a planned youth conference in Hamburg cancelled due to Covid-19.
The event was part of a wider research project involving Dr Elina Marmer, who led one of the German arms of an international research project called Cultural Heritage and Identities of Europe's Future, also known as the CHIEF project.
Dr Marmer, a senior researcher at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, talks about her work as part of the 'Our lives, our culture: youth in a changing world' podcast series, presented by journalist Steve Dyson.
Release date: Monday 20th December 2021
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- Episode 3 - Researchers from Aston University have been working with a Coventry youth group as part of a global study into their cultural heritage needs.
Researchers from Aston University have been working with a Coventry youth group as part of a global study into their cultural heritage needs.
The youth group research forms part of Cultural Heritage and Identities of Europe's Future, also known as the CHIEF project, taking place across nine countries, with the UK research based at Aston University and the University of Gloucestershire.
Dr Ebru Soytemel, a lecturer in Sociology and Policy in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities at Aston University, is one of the academics leading the project’s research.
She discussed the findings in a podcast series called ‘Our lives, our culture: youth in a changing world’, presented by journalist Steve Dyson.
Release date: Monday 20th December 2021
Read the full press release.
- Episode 2 - Schools should work with outside groups to make cultural learning more diverse, CHIEF project recommends
Dr Eleni Stamou, a research fellow in Sociology and Policy in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities at Aston University, is one of the academics leading the project’s research in schools.
She discussed the findings in a podcast series called ‘Our lives, our culture: youth in a changing world’, presented by journalist Steve Dyson.
Release date: Monday 6th December 2021
- Episode 1 - Youth theatres need to fully involve minority groups to create real diversity, according to CHIEF project analysis
Dr Anton Popov was the first interviewee in the new podcast series called ‘Our lives, our culture: youth in a changing world’, presented by journalist Steve Dyson, when CHIEF’s research with youth theatres was discussed. This involved youth theatre groups in the UK cosmopolitan city of Coventry, and in the multicultural town of Komarno, Slovakia, which lies on the border of Hungary and has large Roma ethnic groups.
Dr Popov said: “In both cases, the youth theatres were driven by progressive agendas to develop effective and more inclusive dialogues between different ethnic groups and cultures."
Release date: Wednesday 20th October 2021
