Montenegro Students Bring Cultural Heritage to Life Through Creativity

Implemented by UNESCO and the National Museum of Montenegro, the project brought students from different parts of the country together through local events and a national celebration.

Museums, classrooms and public spaces across Montenegro have become creative meeting points where young people can explore what heritage means in their own lives, rather than simply learning about it from books. Through the Culture in Movement project, more than 220 students and 30 mentors from 14 elementary schools across nine municipalities used art, research, storytelling and conversations with older generations to examine identity, memory, belonging and local traditions, turning cultural heritage into something personal, contemporary and open to new interpretations.

Implemented by UNESCO and the National Museum of Montenegro, the project brought students from different parts of the country together through local events and a national celebration. Their work showed that arts and culture education can give young people more room to ask questions, express their ideas and understand communities beyond their own, while schools and museums can become places where cultural knowledge is actively created rather than simply preserved.

Students Turn Heritage Into Personal Stories

Local showcases held in Cetinje, Pljevlja and Ulcinj during April allowed students to present research and creative projects shaped by the histories and traditions surrounding them. Working alongside mentors, they explored customs, memories and cultural practices while considering how those traditions connect with life in Montenegro today, giving students freedom to interpret heritage through their own experiences instead of treating the past as something distant or fixed.

The creative process also encouraged encounters between generations, allowing young people to learn from community knowledge while developing their own ways of communicating it. Education Minister Anđela Jakšić Stojanović praised the students and mentors for bringing forgotten characters, customs and worlds back into view, describing schools as more inspiring places when children are able to imagine, create and participate actively in learning.

Museums Become Spaces for Participation and Connection

The project carried particular meaning during the 130th anniversary of the National Museum of Montenegro, highlighting how museums can serve communities not only by protecting collections but also by creating opportunities for participation, discussion and creativity. Opening cultural institutions more directly to students helped young people see museums as places where their own perspectives matter and where cultural heritage can be questioned, reinterpreted and shared.

A national closing celebration in Podgorica brought participants together after months of working within their local communities. Students met peers exploring similar questions in different cultural settings, creating space for conversations about Montenegro's diverse heritage and the experiences that shape a sense of belonging. Minister of Culture and Media Tamara Vujović said the project's value could be seen not only in workshops and presentations, but also in the encounters, new experiences and different ways of understanding culture that emerged through the programme.

Creativity Builds Dialogue Beyond the Classroom

Culture in Movement also demonstrated how arts education can support empathy, curiosity and mutual understanding at a time when communities need meaningful ways to connect across social and cultural differences. Raba Hodžić, Director of the Bureau for Education Services, stressed the close relationship between culture and education, pointing to the value of linking knowledge with lived experience and bringing cultural learning closer to children in engaging ways.

Siniša Šešum, Head of the UNESCO Antenna in Sarajevo, described the initiative as evidence that culture and education can contribute to social cohesion, mutual understanding and lasting peace. That idea remained visible throughout the project as students moved from being recipients of cultural knowledge to creators and interpreters who could decide how stories from the past speak to the present.

Although the project has reached its formal conclusion, the relationships created between schools, museums, mentors and communities offer possibilities for continued collaboration. Its strongest message comes from the young participants themselves: cultural heritage stays meaningful when people engage with it, question it, share it and give it new expression through their own creativity.

The initiative formed part of the Joint UN Programme 'Enhancing citizens' trust in institutions and building resilient communities,' financed by the UN Peacebuilding Fund and jointly implemented by UNESCO, UNICEF and UNDP in cooperation with the Government of Montenegro.