Bulgarian heritage still remains terra incognita to Bulgarians and EU citizens. Our vision is to change this through RAZKAZVALNIK where technology meets art to tell the story of unique cultural landmarks around us. A series of competitions will be organized, through which the best user-generated photos/stories, related to a few designated Bulgarian landmarks, will be selected. Subsequently, QR codes will be installed on-site, so that future visitors can access them to learn more.

We are targeting 50 largely unknown unique cultural landmarks in the north of Bulgaria.

The north of Bulgaria remains completely foreign to the majority of Europeans and its own citizens, which is coupled with the fact it is the poorest region of the EU.
With the current project we aim to: 1. present to a large European audience and in a creative manner the culture, history and unique landmarks of Bulgaria; 2. subsequently attract more travellers, with all the inherent economic, cultural and social benefits of the latter.

The idea further seeks to involve members of local communities in an open decision-making process in regards to selecting local landmarks and voting on the submitted creative content that represents these landmarks. Providing options for participation in the decision-making process would allow the community members

The audience of the project shall be all tourists visiting North Bulgaria who will be able to delve into the depths of the country cultural heritage by accessing information through their smart devices. The key expected figures are to attract 5000 people to visit the designated places and explore them in full.

At the same time, the Project shall additionally engage app. 100 local citizens who will be assigned with the role of disseminating Project information and engaging with the local communities to designate the sightseeings and vote on the best photos/stories that best depict them. We will specifically rely on app. 60 local students and 20 active civil leaders and will have them engaged in proactive dissemination of project information in their local communities.

STEP ONE. Select a jury of 12 acknowledged Kulturträgers who will jointly create a list of 50 unique landmarks from the North of Bulgaria.
STEP TWO. Initiate the online voting of local communities to narrow the list down to 30 landmarks.
STEP THREE. Create a contest for a photo and a story that best depicts each landmark.
STEP THREE. User-generation photos and stories on each the 30 landmarks, after which the jury and the public shall choose a winner in each category.
STEP FOUR. All winning stories will be published and made available to the public through QR codes, placed – along with the respective winning images – at each landmark.

Such a large-scale 1-year unique cultural event will undoubtedly influence the lives of the members of local communities within the vicinity of the 50 landmarks in the north of Bulgaria by engaging them with the promotion of their own heritage. The installed QR codes on 30 sightseeings would lead digital users to uncover stories and see pictures of those sightseeings that would help promote the region and bring more tourists back. The success of the project would be the "digitalization" of the local heritage and making it in such an attractive form that enhances tourism. At the same time the stories and pictures that win the contests created on a local level would be subsequently published and disseminated to promote the region and bring pride to its inhabitants.

The unique cultural event we envision, spanning across one year, will involve the active participation of a jury of 12 esteemed Kulturträgers, both foreign and Bulgarian aspiring photographers, artists and writers, as well as the general public, incl. members of local communities, who will be stimulated to support landmarks in their home areas. The above would seek to create a sense of empowerment for citizens and increase their civic engagement and participation in both choosing local points of interest to be included in the project and voting for the best art expression depicting those landmarks.

The goal would be to engage citizens in democratic voting processes to become proactive members of their local communities and to unite them to take ownership over their local landscape.

We want to inspire European citizens to recognize our home country of Bulgaria for the uniqueness of its culture - precious part of the mosaic of the European cultural landscape.

1. Organization of meetings with the local communities - 1000 EUR.
2. Visualization (incl. design and engraving) of QR codes and winning photographs on site, preparation of dissemination materials in English and Bulgarian to promote the region - 5000 EUR.
3. Personnel costs (incl. remuneration of members of the jury) - 30 000 EUR.
4. Dissemination (incl. advertising, creating promotional videos, publishing of the winning stories ) - 3500 EUR.
5. Office expenses - 3500 EUR.

The team of IMEUS is open to any ideas, which may help the realization of RAZKAZVALNIK.