System of educational activities of the Centre of Traditional Culture in Myjava

At the time of the establishment of the Myjava Education Centre in 1998, as the predecessor of the Centre of Traditional Culture in Myjava (CTC in Myjava), there were no regular and systematic educational activities in the field of intangible cultural heritage in the Myjava region or the broader surroundings. In order to ensure that the image of traditional folk culture in the general population is not based only on stylised scenic forms, the expert team in Myjava started to create educational activities focused on the phenomena of local traditional folk culture. These activities required further intensification of research, exploration and inventory activities. This has subsequently led to the development of a coherent system, which has resulted in a wide range of forms of education.
In the creation of each educational activity, the priorities of the CTK in Myjava include research and documentation of traditional culture, especially focusing on music and dance folklore, traditional clothing, culinary heritage, as well as traditional crafts and oral folklore. In addition to field research, the study of historical sources and research in the archives of institutions, the CTC in Myjava is also focused on identifying older amateur collections and their digitisations.
The processed results of the research form an information base, which the CTC in Myjava further communicates to the public through educational, presentational, and promotional activities. The educational events and activities of the CTC in Myjava take various forms: a year-round cycle of interactive events, camps, seminars, workshops, courses, guided exhibitions, and expert lectures. Interactive educational activities are accompanied by expenditure in the form of documentary films, textbooks, and methodological audio-visual materials, books, and audio media.
The activities target kindergarten and primary school children and their teachers, pedagogues, and members of folklore groups, those interested in folk dance and music, traditional crafts or artistic techniques, folk dress, fruit growing, culinary heritage, and others. The methodology and form of the outputs are adapted to each category’s age, knowledge, and skills.
CTC in Myjava involves municipalities, towns, local and regional institutions, non-profit organisations, communities and individual bearers of traditional techniques and skills, theoreticians, and educators in folk dance, music, crafts, and artistic techniques in vivid cooperation, which helps to revitalise traditional culture more effectively.