The project aims to preserve and promote Sokac cultural heritage through cross-border collaboration. It involves four NGOs as partners from Hungary and Croatia organizing festivals, hosting dance camps, producing a documentary, and procuring traditional costumes and instruments to perform and showcase them. These activities will build up mutual trust, enhance cultural understanding, foster community bonds by encouraging people-to-people interactions, and ensure the sustainability of the minority Sokac traditions.
The project addresses the need of preserving and promoting the Sokac cultural heritage, a shared yet increasingly endangered tradition present in the border area of Hungary, Croatia and Serbia. This heritage is integral to the identity of the border region, yet it faces challenges such as diminishing intergenerational transmission, declining use of the Sokac dialect, and limited resources for cultural preservation. By fostering cross-border collaboration and encouraging people-to-people (P2P) interactions, the project directly supports the Specific Objective 5.c "Building up mutual trust, in particular by encouraging P2P actions," while contributing to the overarching goal of strengthening cross-border cooperation.
The mutual trust will be achieved through cultural exchange, collaborative learning, and shared experiences. By bringing together individuals from both sides of the border in joint cultural festivals, dance camps, and the production of a documentary, the project builds bridges between communities, emphasizing their shared history and traditions. The project also supports the integration of minority heritage into the broader society, contributing to long-term social cohesion and preserving a diverse cultural heritage in the region.
Target groups are: The dance and music groups, the cultural associations and their members and staff involved in cultural preservation. The broader local communities and festival attendees, involving tourists. The viewers of the documentary in the wider (global) audience. Craftsmen, traditionalists and artists. Educators, students, and researchers interested in regional cultural heritage.
Outputs are the four cultural festivals, two dance camps, a documentary, traditional costumes and instruments.
Results will be the strengthened cultural identity, enhanced cross-border relationships, improved visibility of minority Sokac traditions, and views of the published documentary.
The cross-border character can be traced in the joint planning and implementation of the partners from Hungary and Croatia. The festivals and camps promote direct interaction between the communities in Mohács, Osijek, Pécs and Valpovo. The documentary highlights the shared yet unique cultural aspect of the Hungary-Croatia border region.