NGO Heritage Dialogues  aims to highlight the resilience and fragility of coastal cultures and ecosystems in a changing world, fostering connections between places and people from across Europe. 

Heritage Dialogues Festival week was held on 28.07 - 4.08.2024 in coastal villages around Bodø, the cultural capital of Europe 2024. The festival was set in the unique heritage landscapes of Misværmarka, Ljønes village, Givær, and Fleinvær islands. In collaboration with local communities, participants will explore the coastal village's heritage —its nature and culture, past and present, histories and people, buildings and lifestyles, handicrafts and arts, voices and music.


Among more than 1000 active participants of the festival were besides Norwegians heritage experts and architects from Estonia and Nordic countries, musicians and artists from up to Faroe islands, local communities of Norway and Nordic-Baltic countries both in presence and livestream. All share a deep appreciation for coastal culture and a love for the sea.


Open festival days of the 2024 festival consisted of several seminars, exhibitions, roundtables, walks, and concerts. „Pitesamiske stemmer“ resonates with Pite Sami heritage – stories, buildings, music, language, places and people. Festival in Ljønes
was dedicated to coastal landscapes, fjords, buildings, and climate change. Heritage Dialogues open festival day on Givær dealt with coastal livelihoods, histories, heritage and communities. There were roundtables and concerts on Fleinvær Island that
concluded the summer festival week.


Heritage Dialogues is a collaborative initiative lead by NGO Heritage Dialgoues involving several organizations and institutions from Norway, Estonia, and other Nordic countries, from heritage communities networks to ICOMOS national committtees. It has
received financial support from Nordic Culture Point, the Municipality of Bodø, Bodø2024, the Sami Parliament, the Directorate for Cultural Heritage, the Estonian Ministry of Culture, the Eesti Kulturkapital, ICOMOS, and others. The cooperation networks continued, in the years 2025 and 2026 several follow-up events were planned. Moreover, communities consolidated in climate action – joining Heritage Adapts! campaign, fighting against industries, initiating other campaigns. Artistic collaboration blooned as well – several joint concerts were made and a joint cd of Jan Gunnar Hoff and Villu Veski inspired by their meeting is being released in 2026.

PHOTOS:
Workshops “Coastal Heritage and Climate Change,” which gathered more than 500 people, were held in July 2024 as part of the Nordic-Baltic ICOMOS collaboration with heritage communities and institutions throughout the Festival week “Heritage Dialogues”. Photos from Ljones, Fleinvaer and Givaer, Arctic Norway. Credits: Heritage Dialogues, ICOMOS Estonia, Toomas Tuul