ERASMUS+ CLICHE JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT CYPRUS: Cultural heritage inspires entrepreneurship

2. JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT
CYPRUS

3. Definitions
Heritage is anything that is considered important enough to be passed on
to the future generations , including customs, practices, places, objects,
artistic expressions and values. Heritage is broadly categorized into two
main divisions
HERITAGE
CULTURAL
HERITAGE
NATURAL
HERITAGE

4. Cultural Heritage gives people a connection to certain social
values, beliefs, religions and customs. It allows them to identify
with others of similar mindsets and backgrounds. Cultural
heritage can provide an automatic sense of unity and belonging
within a group and allows us to better understand previous
generations and the history of where we come from.

5. Cultural Heritage can be further divided into two main groups.
Tangible Heritage which refers to those significant places that advocate the
country’s history and culture. For example, monuments, mosques, shrines,
monasteries etc
Intangible Heritage which refers to those aspects of a country that cannot be
touched or seen. For example, traditional music, folklore, language, techniques
etc
CULTURAL HERITAGE

6. Cultural Heritage can be distinguished in:
• Built Environment (Buildings, Townscapes, Archaeological remains)
• Natural Environment (Rural landscapes, Coasts and shorelines, Agricultural
heritage)
• Artefacts (Books & Documents, Objects, Pictures)

7. Heritage Cycle
The Heritage Cycle diagram gives us an idea how we can make the
past, part of our future (Simon Thurley, 2005).
They will
value it
They will
want to
care for it
It will help
people
enjoy it
Comes a
thirst to
understand By Understanding
By Valuing
By Caring
From Enjoying

8. Cultural Entrepreneurship
We live in the age of globalization. Cultural heritage helps us to remember our diversity. It develops
mutual respect, it is here, waiting to explore it, to share it with others and to protect it for the benefit of
all.
Entrepreneurship arises when we capitalize on our cultural
opportunities and ideas and turn them into value for others.

9. Cultural Entrepreneurship
Cultural entrepreneurship is the activity of consciously addressing a cultural
need through the realization of entrepreneurial ideas with a high level of risk, which has a net positive
effect on the heritage and culture and at the same time is financially sustainable.
Cultural entrepreneurs are agents of change who realise the need for a
sustainable cultural development, suggesting and producing services and products that promote
national, European and international heritage and culture.
A cultural entrepreneur is someone who starts and runs an entrepreneurial venture that is designed
to promote cultural heritage in its products and processes from the very moment it is set up.

10. The indirect effects of cultural production
(and participation)
• Innovation • Welfare
• Sustainability • Social cohesion
• New entrepreneurship* • Soft power
• Local identity • Knowledge economy

11. The cultural and creative field may be a powerful
incubator of new forms of entrepreneurship
Τhe development of creative entrepreneurship is still substantially behind if compared
to the attention devoted to support entrepreneurship in other sectors of the economy.
Τhe rapid growth of the online content industries is creating the stage for a new
entrepreneurial cultural with a strong generational basis
Τhese new forms of entrepreneurship could improve significantly the employability of
graduates from the humanities sectors, which commonly have a weaker employability
potential than the graduates from quantitative and technology areas.

12. Culture-innovation clusters
Top innovation + culture: Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, UK, Ireland,
Luxembourg, France, Germany
Top innovation + culture lagging: Finland, Belgium, Austria
Top culture + innovation lagging: Spain, Estonia
Lagging innovation + culture: Slovenia, Malta, Croatia, Italy,
Czech Republic
Bottom innovation + lagging culture: Lithuania, Latvia,
Bulgaria, Romania, Poland
Bottom culture + lagging innovation: Cyprus, Portugal,
Greece, Slovakia, Hungary
* Clusters of Innovations (COI) have been defined in 2015 as
"global economic hot spots where new technologies
germinate at an astounding rate and where pools of
capital, expertise, and talent foster the development of new industries
and new ways of doing business."

13. The Cyprus Handicrafts Center, located in Nicosia, houses the Cyprus Handicraft Service. The main purpose of
this Service is the revival of our traditional folk art and its gradual development into modern craftsmanship.
The store hosts fine handicrafts that cover all of the individual handicraft sectors and are produced by the Handicraft
Service and the private sector. The products that the Service has in its stores in all cities are characterized by quality
superiority, aesthetic beauty, Cypriot character, functionality and commercial acceptance.
Bodies related to the preservation
of Cypriot folk art and tradition

14. The Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) is a semi-governmental organisation under
the responsibility of the Deputy Ministry of Tourism. One of its aims is to advertise and
promote culture.
http://www.visitcyprus.com/index.php/en/discovercyprus/culture-religion
Bodies related to the preservation of
Cypriot folk art and tradition

15. Bodies related to the preservation of
Cypriot folk art and tradition
Cyprus Agrotourism Company “Holidays in the Cyprus Countryside guided by nature and
culture”.
In 1996 the villagers have started, through governmental subsidies and incentives, to renovate
their old houses (100-300 years old), and convert them into traditional lodgings. This led to the
establishment of the Cyprus Agrotourism Company, a body dealing exclusively with holidays in
the Cyprus countryside offering suggestions for traditional Accommodation and activities in the
countryside.

16. HOW TRADITION HAS BECOME AN
INSPIRATION FOR NEW ARTISTIC AND
ENTREPREURIAL ACTIVITY IN CYPRUS
Re-discovery of cultural tradition through
contamination with contemporary culture and
creativity.

17. Legendary printmaker Hambis Tsangaris loves stories. His enchanting illustrated tales of
heroes and dragons, fairies and nocturnal demons, have delighted readers and earned him
critical acclaim. Hambis demonstrates remarkable creativity in drawing from folk tales and in
doing so generates new ideas and techniques in printmaking. In 2008 Hambis finally realised
a long-term dream of establishing a national printmaking centre and museum to share his
skills and promote the art form in Cyprus, “It was my need to make this museum, to teach
people about what I have learned about printmaking,” he says passionately.

18. “Ploumisto Psomi” is a pioneering Museum of traditional bread brewers and a Bread Workshop in
Limassol. It is the culmination of many efforts and efforts and it is the responsibility of managing a
unique collection of traditional brewers of breads in Cyprus, created by the researcher / author Dorita
Voskaridou. Μany events and activities are organized on a continuous basis, with an important
contribution to the cultural activities of the city, which have the main purpose of preserving and
promoting the tradition. Lectures, seminars, on tradition, bread, art, literature, reading evenings, poetry
nights, children's workshop, reading fairy tales, cooking lessons, tasting.

19. Retrovi
A WORLD OF CREATION REDISCOVERED
Just as its name suggests, Retrovi (meaning ‘rediscover’ in the
Esperanto language) experiments with the traditional designs
of Lefkaritiko lace and Fythkiotiko weaving, introducing new
applications, while always respecting craft and tradition.
The great importance of this embroidery as our island’s cultural
heritage simply has to be displayed. For this reason, the
Retrovi project ensures the continuation of this tradition,
putting forward the freshest ideas with brand new applications
of this exquisite craftwork.
Retrovi motto: “Heritage can never be forgotten and the
modern woman points the way on how to revive tradition
and rediscover our history.”

20. Julia Astreou-Christoforou is a textile designer (specialising in woven
textiles), artist and researcher based in Nicosia. Her enthusiasm for
traditional Cypriot textiles led to the creation of the Cyprus Textile Route
website and booklet, created in cooperation with the European Textiles
Network. Julia produces unique, personal creations.
https://www.juliastreou.com/reasearch

21. Irene Klokkari during her MA in Interdisciplinary Design, was asked to draw on the
contemporary Cypriot souvenir. That's how she began to study the Cypriot tradition
and focused on traditional uniforms. She has illustrated the traditional world of
Cyprus with humor, inspired by traditional clothes and generally from their everyday
life. Along the way they were designed, and applied to products (cushions, duvets,
cloth dolls, handbags, etc.) Irene began to promote them in the market, and they
are now so popular both in Cyprus and abroad.
KLOKKARI DESIGN STUDIO

22. Young fashion designers create use
traditional embroidery

23. Traditional basket weaving as
an inspiration

24. Initiatives at schools
Ecology and tradition have found common art, in an
original initiative, where students created outfits, using
old clothes, decorated with motifs and embroidery from
the folk art and tradition of Cyprus, giving them a new life.
Their motto: “We can reduce the volume of waste by
decorating them in a beautiful, creative and
supportive way in preserving our cultural heritage.”
Fashion show of student creations with re-used
garments by Kokkinotrimithia High School in 2017

25. Junior Achievement Cyprus
Company of the Year Competition
Jewelery
inspired by
Cypriot
Embroidery

26. Junior Achievement Cyprus
Company of the Year Competition
Application for
meeting Cyprus’
important
mountainous
places
https://mountour.com.cy

27. IDEAS FOR POSSIBLE
CULTURAL
ENTREPRENEURIAL
ACTIONS
• Creation of tourist guide for kids
• Creation of souvenirs inspired by cultural heritage
• Design of guided tours for cultural sites and museum educational programs for kids
• Formation of audio guided tours and virtual visits for cultural sites and museums
• Production of advertising material (posters, ads, videos etc) to promote culture
• Production of educational material about cultural heritage e.g table games (memory
game, Trivial, puzzles, puppets, flash cards, posters), activity books, story books, etc

28. “If you could start a business, what kind of innovative product, service or solution would you
develop if you were a cultural entrepreneur?
Explain the product or service your business would offer, the challenge it would tackle and how
information and communication technology (ICT) could help you achieve your goal.
Your concept should be commercially viable and cannot be dependent on public funds.”

29. Timeframe
10:15-11:30 Working in break-out rooms
(JA staff to support)
11:30-12:00 Presentations (use template)

30. THANK YOU !
Αntigoni Komodiki
CEO
JA Cyprus
a.komodiki@jacyprus.org