Exploring opportunities and challenges for intangible cultural heritage at the intersection of institutions, civil society, and migrant communities

This data set was produced in the CultureLabs project to explore the needs and expectations of migrant and refugee communities in several European countries in relation to communicating and sharing their intangible cultural heritage (ICH) practices as well as of cultural and civil society organisations that plan to support this. 

The data was gathered across Europe in early 2019 and consists of 101 surveys administered and 27 interviews. 101 surveys were administered to people belonging to migrant and refugee communities in several hosting countries, mostly Italy and Germany, while the countries of origin of respondents covered four continents. The survey consisted of closed-ended questions and was structured into eight thematic areas related to a balanced mix of independent and dependent variables for the generation of correlations and clusters. The thematic areas included: background information; employment status; socioeconomic status; residency or migration status; individual preferences, attitudes, and activities; intercultural awareness; extent of interest and preparedness to become actively involved in cultural activities; and access to and use of digital tools. 27 semi-structured interviews were also conducted. The interviewees were recruited from the collaborative network of the nine partner institutions in the CultureLabs project. Although each interview gave space to the issues raised by the interviewees, four themes were deepened with the majority of participants: interest in cultural activities, expectations from cultural activities, the importance of digital tools for cultural activities, and the relevance of cultural heritage activities for individuals and their socio-cultural integration in the host society.

The findings resulted in a peer-reviewed publication available at the following link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13527258.2021.1922934  

The original dataset has been processed by removing details and parts that might compromise the anonymity of the participant. 

This work is supported by the European Union’s Horizon2020 project CultureLabs: Recipes for Social Innovation, under Grant Agreement 770158. The sole responsibility of this work lies with the authors. The European Union is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.