Bridging Cultures: Digital Storytelling & Creative Connections for Community Empowerment (Coventry, UK & Coburg, Germany)

Intercultural Roots (IR) and MakingCulture® e.V. announce their participation in the Cultural Bridge 2025-2026 programme, a UK-German initiative driving cross-border collaboration through arts, technology, and community engagement. Titled "Bridging Cultures: Digital Storytelling and Creative Connections for Community Empowerment", the partnership will connect Coventry (UK) and Coburg (Germany) in a year-long exchange of hybrid workshops, participatory arts, and digital storytelling, running from April 2025 to March 2026.

Core Activities & Innovation

The project merges IR's PLACES by EcoGPX® app - a geo-tagged storytelling platform - with MakingCulture's experimental arts expertise to reimagine public spaces. Key activities include:

• Hybrid Workshops: In-person sessions in Coventry (City of Peace) and Coburg (historic innovation hub) combined with virtual exchanges, engaging marginalised communities, artists, and youth.
• Digital Storytelling: Participants co-create AR-enabled narratives tied to heritage sites like Coventry Cathedral's Reconciliation sculpture and Coburg's reconstructed 1888 Flocken Electric Vehicle.
• Sustainable Dialogue: Addressing shared challenges such as environmental justice and social inclusion through collaborative creativity.

Why Coventry & Coburg?

Coventry, a symbol of postwar reconciliation, and Coburg, reconciling its complex history, offer contrasting narratives ideal for intercultural exchange. Building on IR's EcoGPX Launchpad Coventry - which engaged 450+ participants in place-based storytelling - and MakingCulture's sustainability initiatives (e.g., Coburg's Sustainability Days), the partnership pioneers innovative community-driven solutions.

Impact & Vision

• Community Empowerment: Equip participants with digital storytelling skills and platforms to amplify underrepresented voices.
• Cross-Border Learning: IR adopts MakingCulture's participatory arts methods, while Coburg integrates IR's digital tools for heritage engagement.
• Scalable Model: Develop a framework for international arts partnerships addressing climate action and social cohesion.

Funding & Support

This project is funded by Cultural Bridge, which celebrates bilateral artistic partnerships between the UK and Germany through the collaboration between Arts Council England, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, British Council, Creative Scotland, Fonds Soziokultur, Goethe-Institut London, and Wales Arts International / Arts Council of Wales. Learn more: cultural-bridge.info.

The project prioritises ethical collaboration, fair artist compensation, and accessibility, supported by a coalition of leading cultural institutions.

Get Involved

• Follow updates: @CulturalBridgeNetwork (https://instagram.com/CulturalBridgeNetwork) | #BridgingCultures
• Visit Intercultural Roots Website (https://www.interculturalroots.org/)
• Learn more: https://www.cultural-bridge.info/projects/2025-2026/bridging-cultures
• Workshop registration opens April 2025.