- Own responsibility means involvement
The cases showed that when young people were given a responsibility to organize something, for example, they showed a high degree of commitment. This translated into involvement in other areas and a sense of responsibility for the whole group. However, there are also examples where young people were allowed to contribute ideas to a project in a think tank, but after which little was done with the ideas they put forward. This backfired in the motivation to be active. Participative and equal collaboration with young people is therefore important in passing on intangible heritage. This gives room for new energy and creativity.
For young people, the social aspect of a cultural expression is the most important reason to participate in an activity. Intangible heritage communities that want to involve young people could therefore pay extra attention to planning and facilitating social moments.
- Structure knowledge transfer among young people
There are various structures in which young people pass on knowledge and skills. From an organized system, such as the Scouts, to looser connections such as the Fruit Corso stickers and the gamers. As a heritage community, it is important to provide structures for young people to continue to develop.
- Don't underestimate what young people want to learn
The interviewed young people indicate that they find learning new things and personal development important factors for being active in a group or community. This ranges from social skills such as organizing to more practical skills such as tying knots and welding.
- Solve image problems through increased visibility
In all three cases, young people faced negative stereotypes, which led to shame in some young people about their activities. In their view, more visibility of the cultural expression and opportunities to tell their story would help.
- Do not approach the cultural expressions of young people separately or differently from other forms of intangible heritage
Many of the cultural expressions of young people that we know are not only practiced by young people. In the cases studied, it can also be seen that there is an older guard of young people who take the lead in setting up structures to make a cultural expression future-proof. The roles of administrators and practitioners therefore do not differ from other heritage communities. Safeguarding the cultural expression therefore requires the same approach.
