Idrija 2020 Association

Idrija 2020 Association was established in 2012 by young enthusiasts to tackle the biggest challenge of UNESCO town Idrija - young people leaving this small and peripheral town. Since the formation, we have initiated and co-created an award-winning youth center and a youth hostel (today a separate organisation with 9 young employees), prepared the official municipal youth strategy, shaped several youth policies (from participation to housing), initiated the formation of a startup community and a new coworking space (today led by local businesses), created a heritage-inspired luxury jewellery brand (today a separate business), published an award-winning youth magazine about local youth, written an award-winning vision and a strategy for the town in the 21st century (that inspired the official municipal strategy), organised numerous community building events on citizen heritage and helped transform a traditional local dish festival into a popular and creative culinary event (today a separate team). Our activities have significantly contributed to the development of Idrija into a youth-friendly municipality. In 2014, the President of the Republic of Slovenia awarded Idrija the “Youth-Friendly Municipality Certificate”, while in 2018, Idrija’s official development strategy put youth retention and attraction as the top priority of local administration for the next 5 years. In 2018, Idrija 2020 team established a network of young enthusiasts, architects, civil engineers, heritage protection officials and local stakeholders which, in a joint operation (project “PIRH”) assessed the current state of endangered traditional miners houses in Idrija, produced a plan for renovation for one of the houses that is protected as a monument and owned by the Municipality and issued a catalogue with guidelines for heritage-friendly renovations. Also in 2018, Idrija 2020 was awarded the first prize in European Commission’s Social Innovation Competition for the idea of HeritageLab - the first heritage-based business incubator in the world. In 2019, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia awarded the Idrija 2020 Association with the title “NGO in the public interest in the field of culture”. Target groups: Idrija 2020 Association is open for collaboration with highly motivated young people that are interested in developing new concepts of how we perceive heritage and in thinking of innovative ways of its integration in our everyday life. While primarily based in Idrija, Slovenia, the Idrija 2020 Association also seeks to expand its activities and apply them in other peripheral, small- and medium-sized towns across Europe. Regular activities: Idrija 2020 Association organizes/helps organize Idrija žlikrofi (traditional dish) food festival, supports other activities based on Idrija’s culinary heritage (e. g. “food walking” tour), is involved in development of a new line of heritage-inspired hand-made jewellery with traditional Idrija lace and is researching and popularising traditional architecture and advising about the renovations of the miners houses. Its members are also active in researching and publishing about Idrija’s past, present and future. Idrija 2020 Association has been a proactive and key actor in developing Idrija’s youth policies, from conducting research, agenda-setting (through TBI magazine) and strategic planning (e.g. preparation of Youth Strategy of the Municipality of Idrija 2015-2020, TBI: youth, city and heritage urbanistic workshop).