<< Background >>The cultural sector was one of the most affected by the economic crisis caused by the diffusion of Covid-19 and consequent restrictive measures established by national governments within the whole EU area. In spite of that, cultural operators and heritage managers have been seeking alternative ways to reach and involve their audiences, by making extensive use of creativity and digital solutions. During the lock-down phase, the public was maybe more than ever interested in culture and returned to discover its values. Young people especially were very creative in digital communication on social networks with various cultural contents, that actually led to acceptance of such initiatives by cultural institutions. In particular, the interest of the public was attracted by those heritage sites already offering virtual tours or able to promptly adapt to the new scenario and switch their communication strategy into the digital format. In spite of the present hard times for culture, this situation clearly showed that new potentials and hidden forces arose and opened the way to a new chapter, which was only visible in traces so far. These potentials and forces are represented by Millennials which are the main target group to which this project is addressed. The spread of Covid-19 pandemic had a significant impact on young people’s everyday life, thus changing their needs again. They need to recover a sense of identity, a feeling of belonging and connection with their communities as well as some habits lost during the pandemic. In fact, the COVID-19 health crisis and its consequences have upended how people socialise, increasing loneliness. Several psychological and sociological studies are dedicated to effects on individuals and collectivities, observing symptoms of anxiety and depression especially among young people. In this respect, to recover traditions and history can enhance self-awareness and resilience, besides stimulating a feeling of sharing and a sense of belonging to a wider community. This also at European level thanks to the awareness that different people from other countries could share common features connecting their past and present as well.On the other hand heritage managers represent the needs of the partnership. In particular, heritage managers need to be able to involve Millennials, because they can bring by them new potentials and forces to enhance their competencies and to increase the employment rate consequently. They need to learn new languages which could facilitate a way to approach the young generations, thus turning pandemic difficulties into new opportunities for both of them. In this sense the new ICT technologies and social media can help heritage managers to communicate with Digital Natives. Reinventing Museum Communication, they can get young people close to cultural heritage sites and museums.<< Objectives >>This proposal aims to foster concrete actions to shorten the distance between Millennials and cultural heritage. In particular, the specific objectives of the project are: -to promote awareness among young people on the potentials of cultural heritage for the construction of a European citizenship which is based on the value of local identities and cultural diversity;-to develop innovative digital tools and communication strategies which allow to engage the youngest generations in creating contents and sharing their perceptions and feelings in relation to cultural heritage, while developing key competences and basic skills-to exploit the creative and innovative potential of Millennials by engaging them in cultural heritage management-to enhance and update the competences of cultural heritage managers towards contemporary languages, creative approaches and digital toolsIn order to achieve its objectives, the project will be based on a two-fold and cross-sectorial approach. On one hand, Millennials will be actively involved so as to fully explore and exploit their potential. They will not be taught during the project, but they will be rather listened and engaged. Cultural heritage managers will learn from their creativity, ideas, fresh insight, habits, dictionary especially lifestyle, which is absolutely in line with the digital era. They will be actively involved as creators, users and evaluators of the products and tools developed throughout the project. Digital communication strategies will be improved and updated thanks to their contribution, according to their perception and understanding of heritage, its values and potentials. On the other hand, as a consequence of Millennials’ engagement, cultural heritage managers and tourist guides will be able to enhance and update their competences and get a better understanding of contemporary languages, so that the new digital tools will be directly implemented and tested in heritage presentations. The project aims to create a future creative force of young educated professionals who will impact the development of cultural heritage, which will be more prepared for the new public which is already knocking the heritage doors. Thus the project aims to involve the focus groups of millennials and the “Generation Z” as active participants who will provide their creative solutions for the development of cultural heritage management.<< Implementation >>The project is based on a sound intervention logic which is aimed to establish a clear connection between activities, expected results and specific objectives. Some specific results are particularly relevant to the achievement of each specific objective. In particular, all the specific objectives of the project are strictly connected with the successful implementation of the various phases envisaged for the development of the three main project results. Thus, the project structure has been rationally organised in order to facilitate a smooth implementation of all project activities and ensure a fair and balanced distribution of workloads among partners. Project activities are structured into different Work Packages, each of them with its own set of activities and expected outputs, which will be prepared in a given time as project deliverables. The distribution of roles and responsibilities among partners was established during the project planning phase and agreed by all partners in order to maximize efficiency, according totwo main criteria. The first criterion is the specific expertise provided by each partner, depending on its fields of activity and previous experience in international projects; the second isto distribute workloads among partners in a balanced way.In order to achieve the expected results and outcomes the following activities will be implemented during the project lifetime: Project management, monitoring and evaluation. All the activities related to this work package are coordinated by Asso Enti Locali, the project leader. Communication and dissemination activities. The work package is coordinated by Brodoto association from Croatia.Activities related to the production of the 3 main project results. Partners have complementary skills suitable for achieving the expected results thanks to the synergy that will be adopted during the project lifetime. The coordinator will act as a supervisor of the entire process leading to their production. Cyprus University of Technology has specific competences for the production of the digital platform (R1); the Association of Heritage Managers and the Institute of Archaeology bring the most specific competences about the cultural heritage sector necessary for the other results (R2, R3); the Archaeology Student Association, further to involve young participants, such as the Student Organization of the University of Lubiana, involves young people with specific skills in the relevant sector. Brodoto is a young reality which brings a transversal added value of specific competences in the communication field. In order to produce the expected results the active involvement of two target groups (Millennials and heritage managers) will be essential in many steps and different phases of the project. 2 transnational learning, teaching and training activities will be organized during the project lifetime and they play an absolutely key role for the achievement of the project specific objectives and results. The first is a learning mobility targeted to 50 young people that will be learning and working together. They will be hosted in Serbia by one of the most important archaeological sites of the country. The second is a joint staff training event organized in Croatia. In this case 12 professionals of the heritage sector and staff of the involved organizations will give a fundamental contribution in the production of the second project result.4 transnational meetings are scheduled to organise the common work and facilitate cooperation among partners, identify possible risks and address any issues preventing a smooth implementation of planned activities or leading to results below expectations.6 Multiplier events will be carried out in order to promote and diffuse the project results among a wide audience of potential users and relevant external stakeholders at European level.<< Results >>The project work plan foresees a wide range of results which are strictly interconnected between them and functional to the achievement of the specific objectives. The cooperation partnership aims to produce three main results which are briefly described below:-COOLTOUR digital platform This output consists of an innovative digital tool aimed to promote the active involvement of Millennials and collect their inputs for the creation of contents and storytelling related to cultural heritage. The COOLTOUR platform is a hybrid social media web application allowing users to create and share contents related to the archaeological sites involved in the project, such as reflections on heritage given in vlogs, blogs, inventing new heritage brands, creating heritage inspired emoticons, creating routes for “young heritage” as well as heritage presentation from young people’s perspective, so as to strengthen the link between culture heritage and young generations.-COOLTOUR toolkit for heritage managers: It consists of an innovative methodology aimed to foster the engagement of young people in cultural heritage through the use of interactive digital tools and non formal learning activities. The high innovativeness of this methodology lies in the fact that it is developed by taking advantage of the potential of millennials in terms of creativity, emotional intelligence, digital skills and contemporary languages, in order to develop learning activities addressed to heritage managers. Through the use of this toolkit, the latter will improve their digital skills and professional competences and get a better understanding of the potentials of digital communication for the further engagement of young people, thus creating a virtuous circle which is going to bring concrete benefits to the target groups in first place, in terms of empowerment, personal and professional development. -COOLTOUR Guidelines for a contemporary Cultural Heritage Management Plan: how to involve the new generations so that they become more and more interested in the European cultural heritage? The result will be able to answer this question! The new management plan of cultural heritage presentation oriented to the young generation considering branding, design and digital marketing strategies together with the design of the new thematic route invented for the purpose of the involvement of the target public. The guidelines for the new management plan dedicated for the specific purpose of the involvement of youngsters as contemporary and future visitors will provide fresh insight into the developed and tested strategies which will influence the shift in the so far known management plans. Further to the specific and concrete results the project will be able to produce other kinds of outcomes thanks to the active involvement of a high number of organisations and individuals, in particular young people, across 6 European countries. These will include the project staff, participants at local activities, participants at the transnational training activities and multiplier events. All these people will be able to experience and better understand the social and educational value of cultural heritage and its potentials regarding the development of European citizenship. The project will also contribute to positive changes in various spheres of society at all scales. In particular, it is expected to generate a better awareness on the value of cultural diversity and the power of cultural heritage in terms of social cohesion and empowerment of young people. At the same time, it is expected to reinforce the connection between archaeological sites and youth, with benefits spreading from local to European dimension.