The actions carried out in France at the European Cultural Centre during the sessions of culture and citizenship stirred each time the enthusiasm of the participants. The Royal Abbey became today the model of a network in full rise.

The European Cultural Centre of Saint-Jean d'Angély is the pilot of a network of thirteen centres, signatories of a common charter.

a transfer of pedagogic engineering

Following the great success of the sessions of European culture and citizenship organised at the Royal Abbey of Saint-Jean d'Angély, many foreign partners lived the experience of in-depth work with young people. Wishing to develop projects, they took as support the "know-how" implemented at the first European Cultural Centre.

The Centre gives them its support in the form of transfer "of pedagogic engineering" and management. The network of the Centres extends to the European Convention countries (Spain, Germany, Italy...) as well as to countries outside the Union, in pre-adhesion state or not (Romania, Hungary, Ukraine...). The team of the French Centre, network head, moves to the other centres, in order to help them with the implementation and progress of the trinational session. The team of the European Cultural Centre is able to give life to a programme. However, this programme is carried out, to a large extent, thanks to the enthusiasm and volunteer work of all those who on site do not spare their efforts so that young people of Europe can exchange, build and reflect together.

Trip at a session in Santiago de Compostella.
Photo St Jean ECC

The creation of the network also generates the signing of conventions and partnerships with local authorities. Thus, the opening of the European Cultural Centre of Partanna in Sicily answers to a convention with the Province of Trapani. The same goes for the Autonomous Region of Galice and the Autonomous Region of Rioja, during the organisation of trinational and multiannual sessions in Santiago de Compostella and San Millán de la Cogolla.

In addition to local communities, there are conventions of partnership with organisations of European vocation. By way of example, Fundación San Millán de la Cogolla, close to Logroño, became an active partner of the Centre of Rioja, just as the Centre of Partanna in Sicily and Archeoclub in Sélinunte.

Following the path opened by the French centre, these new Centres propose to explore different and complementary thematic approaches. Those coincide with the topics of the cultural routes of the Council of Europe. On November 1, 1999, the signing of a convention between the European Cultural Centre and the European Institute of Cultural Routes made it possible to weave, in an even more active way, the development of the network of European Cultural Centres.

Photograph of group in Partanna. Photo St Jean ECC

In addition to trinational sessions, the signing of conventions with the territorial communities concerned engages the French pilot centre to take part in the sustainable development of the regional environment in which the European Cultural Centre is established: relating and giving incentives for the creation of new commercial, cultural and tourist partnerships between the local authorities of Europe and the European Cultural Centre directly; organisation of permanent training courses for the educational personnel of Europe within the framework of the Socrates programme of the European Commission; organisation of conferences within the framework of a European dimension in culture, education, research, visual arts, etc