Voices and Paths of Intangible Heritage – Newsletter #2 of the Miretage Project
- La Xixa
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
We are delighted to launch the second edition of the MIRETAGE project newsletter, filled with exciting updates on European Pathways to Minority Religious Heritage: Inclusive Heritage in Adult Education, an inspiring three-year collaboration funded by the European Union, aimed at promoting inclusive heritage education.
In this edition, we invite you to learn more about the work carried out so far in the three local Heritage Labs, where members of religious minorities in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain have come together with cultural heritage and adult education professionals to share personal and collective stories connected to the cultural and religious heritage of their neighborhoods or communities.
As the completion of the co-created Heritage Trails and their testing phase approaches, we look forward to sharing with you the vibrant stories that this creative stage of the project has generated.
Stay tuned for more exciting updates on our co-created heritage trails with minority religious communities!
🔸Inclusive Heritage Labs
From March to June 2025, the local Heritage Labs were carried out in Almere (Netherlands), Borgerhout (Belgium), and Barcelona (Spain), inviting members of minority religious communities into a space for shared reflection and inclusive heritage-creation activities.
Almere (Netherlands): The Almere Heritage Lab held its first session in March 2025, coinciding with Ramadan. It was coordinated by Storytelling Centre Amsterdam and Moslim Archief, and brought together many members of Almere’s Muslim community — the youngest city in the Netherlands — who gathered for a special iftar. While several areas of the city and their stories have already been mapped and shared, the organisers hope to increase participation through new sessions, building a stronger foundation for the future heritage trail. Read more.
Borgerhout (Belgium): The Borgerhout Heritage Lab began in May 2025. It was coordinated by KADOC, with support from Empact vzw, a local community organisation representing Moroccan social and cultural bodies in Antwerp. The first session brought together around 15 participants in this multicultural neighbourhood. Participants walked through its streets guided by Mohammed Ikhan, who enriched the experience by sharing numerous stories and perspectives on Borgerhout’s migration history and its diverse cultural landscape today. Read more.
Barcelona (Spain): The Barcelona Heritage Lab held its first session in May 2025 at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans, coordinated by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Mozaika, and La Xixa Teatre. The session gathered around 20 professionals from the fields of culture, heritage, community activism, and academia to reflect on how to recognise, preserve, and activate minority religious heritage as an integral part of the country’s collective narrative. Two additional sessions took place in June 2025, bringing together 13 participants for a sensory exploration lab designed to evoke personal and spiritual memories linked to the heritage of this multicultural city. Read more.
🔸What’s next?
With the first phase of the project completed and the second nearing its end, MIRETAGE is now focusing on the evaluation of minority religious heritage trails and on designing the future practical guide (Handbook)..
Steps we have taken:
Literature review: Our journey began in January 2024 with a review of existing literature on minority religious heritage and an exploration of current practices in organisations working in adult education with minority religious communities.
Heritage Labs: Since March 2025, local Heritage Labs have been launched in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain, with the aim of providing participants with a space for cultural dialogue and collaboration, challenging traditional heritage narratives, and co-creating cultural routes that reflect diverse stories.
Heritage Trails: The co-creation dynamics developed in the Heritage Labs will result in three unique heritage trails that highlight the rich narratives of minority religious communities and invite others to engage with their stories.
Practical handbook: To ensure that the methodologies developed during this co-creation process can be shared and replicated, we will produce a practical guide aimed at adult educators working with minority communities.
🔸Updates on the website
Interview with Future for Religious Heritage (Belgium): This European network, which brings together organisations and individuals dedicated to the understanding, safeguarding, and promotion of historic places of worship and related intangible heritage, reflects on the importance of minority religious heritage for Europe and shares its involvement in the MIRETAGE project. Read more.
Interview with La Xixa Teatre (Spain): In this interview, the project managers in Spain (Ana Bustamante and Nadia Oñatibia) discuss their experience working with religious minorities and highlight the urgency of fostering intercultural dialogue in contemporary society. Read more.
👉 In case you missed it: Newsletter #1 is also available on the project website.
👉 Find more information on the project blog.
The MIRETAGE project — European Pathways to Minority Religious Heritage: Inclusive Heritage in Adult Education — is a three-year Erasmus+ strategic partnership involving 8 partners across 3 countries: the University of Groningen (Netherlands), Storytelling Centre (Netherlands), Moslim Archief (Netherlands), KADOC (Belgium), Future for Religious Heritage (Belgium), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain), La Xixa Teatre (Spain), and Mozaika (Spain).
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