Deadline: 30 April 2013 and 12 July 2013
Open to: students and young professionals from around the Balkans, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia
Benefits: engaging lectures and hands-on experience with restoration, using traditional materials and techniques, as well as with the interpretation and management of cultural heritage sites
Description
In 2013, Cultural Heritage Without Borders (CHwB) will host 6 Regional Restoration Camps at locations across the Western Balkans. As in the past, each camp will provide participants with engaging lectures and hands-on experience with restoration, using traditional materials and techniques, as well as with the interpretation and management of cultural heritage sites.
During each 2-week camp, participants will follow a rigorous but very fulfilling schedule, which combines theory – through lectures and presentations – with exercises and physical work on historic monuments in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo or Serbia. Among other projects, participants will be working on:
- Plaster and wood-based restoration of monumental houses in Gjirokastra, Albania
- Surveying and restoring historic wine cellars in Negotin, Serbia
- Contributing to the ongoing restoration of the Old Town, historic mills and bridges in Stolac, Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Repairing a historic home and repointing the Medvjed tower of Jajce fortress in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Developing techniques for interpreting cultural heritage and conserving immoveable heritage in Vushtrri and Prizren, Kosovo
Each intervention will be directly helping local residents, either with the repair and conservation of their valuable houses or with new means of understanding, interpreting and revitalizing them.
While they will be conducted separately, these six restoration camps form part of a region-wide push to encourage people to understand the value and learn how to care for their local heritage. The main objective is to use cultural heritage as a platform for professionals, both men and women, to meet and create conditions for reconciliation as a prerequisite for peace and democracy with respect to human rights, as well as to stimulate local economic growth through the development of cultural heritage.
Volunteer Group Leader Positions
Are you a former Camp participant looking to stay involved with the Regional Restoration Camps? Do you want to share your knowledge and experience with a new group of eager participants? CHwB is looking for volunteers to assist at this year’s Regional Restoration Camps. Each camp will have two to six volunteers, who will attend the full two weeks of the camp and assist with a variety of tasks to help make the experience as rewarding as possible for participants.
Be sure you understand the duties and meet the eligibility and qualifications before applying!
Volunteer duties:
- Oversee the registration process at the start of the Camp (handing out materials and registering students)
- Assist with communication and translation among Camp participants and craftspeople
- Assist with purchase and transport of material necessary for work sites
- Coordinate activity of working group on site
- Assist the group leader/craftsperson with any requirements related to the restoration work or group management
- Assist with arrangements for group study visits (supervising group, checking tickets, etc.)
- Keep lecture room in order—before, during and after lectures
- Assist with final exam (monitoring exam, collecting exams and final evaluations)
- Provide a link between group and monument owner or visitors (be able to explain what is happening)
Eligibility
Students and young professionals from around the Balkans, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia, are particularly encouraged to apply. Applications from other countries are welcome, though camp participants from outside the Balkans will be required to pay 750 euros to cover the cost of their participation.
To apply to be a volunteer group leader, you must be a former participant of a CHwB Regional Restoration Camp and speak English fluently, as well as the primary language of the country where the camp is held. Albania & Kosovo (Albanian), Bosnia & Serbia (Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian). You should also be an honest, cheerful and good worker; good communicator; take responsibility for actions; efficient; and don’t smoke while working.
Application
Be sure to pay close attention to the application deadline for each camp:
Camp 11: Negotin, Serbia (June 15 – 29)
DEADLINE: April 30, 2013
Camp 12: Stolac, BiH open only to residents of Bosnia & Herzegovina (July 13 – 27)
DEADLINE: April 30, 2013
Camp 13: Gjirokastra, Albania (September 14 – 28)
DEADLINE: July 12, 2013
Camp 14: Jajce, BiH (October 5 – 19)
DEADLINE: July 12, 2013
Camp 15: Vushtrri and Prizren, Kosovo (October 12 – 26)
DEADLINE: July 12, 2013
TO APPLY as a participant:
- Download the PDF application form HERE.
- Fill out the application completely, including all supporting documents
- Send the entire application by email, post or fax to RRC@chwb.org. Please specify which camp in the email subject line (example: application – Camp 10: Gjirokastra, Albania);
Post:
CHwB Regional Office
Alipasina 7/II
71 000 Sarajevo, BiH
Tel/fax: +387 33 552 376 - CHwB will confirm that they have received your application. If you do not receive a confirmation email within 1 week, please contact CHwB at RRC@chwb.org.
TO APPLY AS A VOLUNTEER GROUP LEADER:
The volunteer application DEADLINE for each camp is the same as the participant application deadline. If you meet the requirements and want to dive back into the exciting and rewarding atmosphere of the CHwB Regional Restoration Camps, download the PDF application form HERE and return it before the deadline via email at RRC@chwb.org. You may also send by POST or FAX to the address listed just above this paragraph.
For more information, see the official website HERE or HERE for more information about volunteer leaders. You can also find more information and brochures at CHwB’s Facebook page HERE.
