The AVEC network is a not-for-profit association under French legislation, the Registered Office being at the town hall of the city of Tours.

The members are territorial authorities (cities, provinces regions…) who seek to make their heritage a useful tool for sustainable development.

Every year, the members meet for a general meeting and renew the board of directors (by 1/3). The board meets at least once between annual general meetings: they elect the steering committee which, together with the General Manager runs the day to day activity.

The General Manager directs the association, looking after the permanent team members and coordinates all the activities through the inter-regional commissions (arranged according to theme)and the Projects under the aegis of the European Community.

The accounts of the association are certified yearly by independent auditors.

The statutory meetings are held usually in January-February (Annual General Meeting) and September-October (Board meeting).

Each meeting is held in one of the member cities, which allows everyone to appreciate the local problems and progress in different regions of the continent. These statutory Annual General Meetings have been held in the following cities: Olomouc (Cz), Turin (I), Tavira (P) , Cosenza (I) , Ubeda (E) ;

Board meetings have been hosted by Tours (F), Tolède (E), Pézenas (F), Pécs (H), Tolède (E).

The members of the Alliance of European Cities of Culture are territorial authorities (cities, agglomerations, provinces, regions…) who seek to valorise their heritage as a motor for sustainable (local?)development.

In each local authority, a team made up of elected representatives and technicians take active part in the activities of the network.

Each local authority works with local actors (citizens, associations, companies, universities etc.) within the framework of a local forum. In each town or city, a local coordinator is chosen whose role is to look after relations with the local partners.

As from Spring 2005, there are 32 members in this network, spread across 12 countries.

To become a member of the AVEC network a city or territory should:

- be a historic city or territory within the European Community,

- decide to implement the Charter of European Cultural Cities which encapsulates

- the values and common objectives of the members,

- be prepared to participate regularly in the activities of cooperation and meetings,

- undertake to pay their annual contribution,

- complete and submit an application for membership.

At present, the selection procedure is as follows :

- the candidate makes contact with the association either directly or through a member

- download an application form

- submit the application to the board, who then

- consider the application

- take the advice of the scientific committee

- before the decision and reception of the new member by the Annual General Meeting.

To download the application form, go to www.avecnet.net

• For a city or a region, the Alliance of European Cultural Cities ‘(AVEC) offers
• aprivilegedframework of cooperation in both human, technical and policy fields with other communities sharing the same aims and objectives of sustainable development based on the valorisation of their culture and heritage.
• Through Europe-wide reunions, interregional commissions, the preparation of projects co-financed by the European Union, the elected representatives and technicians of each city or region can (among other advantages) enrich their skills and competences, professionalise their practices and increase the impact of their communication .
• The network produces tools for the use of the members.
• -Training sessions de formation (example: October 2004, at Rennes, training seminars on Heritage education;
• - Grants that allow visits to member cities (with the support of the French Ministry of Culture );
•  - Website and heritage database;
• Better understanding of what is done elsewhere – both successes and setbacks – allows considerable timesaving; learning from the errors of others and taking inspiration from the most effective practices is a serious help and advantage.

Through these exchanges, which enrich and empower daily practices, members find that the AVEC network allows active participation in the construction of aEurope of regions based on the respect of the different cultures, valorising everyone’s contribution to the whole.

With time, AVEC is also becoming a real friendship network between professionals and decision-makers, all sharing the same vision.

Each member city or region of the AVEC network pays an annual contribution calculated according to two parameters: the number of inhabitants and the GNP of the country; this system ensures that everyone contributes a just and fair sum for the financing of common activities, whether they be in France, Portugal or Bulgaria.

To finance the projects conceived by its members, the AVEC network also has recourse to national publicsubsidies and most of its projects are co-financed by the European Union.

The network’s Interregional Commissions are made up of network members who want to work together on the same theme .

In 2005, there are 5 such commissions:

- The “Network development and Qualicities project ” Commission, headed by the City of Anderlecht (B). This commission concentrates on the creation of the future Quality Standard for sustainable development of historic cities and territories  ;

- The “Tourism & Heritage” Commission, headed by the Tourist Office of Arles (F). This Commission works on the development of cultural and nature tourism.  ;

- The “ Heritage awareness ” Commission, headed by the Heritage and Tourism directors of Rennes Metropole (F)  ; this Commission is concerned with the development of network members’ skills and competences in the domain of heritage teaching and education, particularly by the bias of European training courses.

- The “Local heritage websites” commission, headed by the Heritage Service of Arles (F) . This commission allows network member cities and territories free access to a database and a high performance website that manages all the data relative to their local heritage. It is a pilot site.

- The “EU Programmes watch and new projects” commissionheaded by Baranya (H) , the city of Anderlecht (B) and the Communauté d’Agglomération Hérault-Méditerranée (F) this Commission allows members to be aware of the EU programmes and to prepare together the projects that correspond to their own objectives.

- The“APPEARproject” Commission , headed by the city of Pécs (H)  ; this Commission allows members to participate in the finalisation “APPEAR” project (5°PCRD), which deals with the accessibility of urban archaeological sites

• The AVEC network works on all the themes that interest the members, who associate their efforts in the framework of the inter-regional Commissions, and is also active in projects that receive the support of the European Commission.
  Some examples:
  AVEC : creating a historic cities network
  The first common project, entitled « AVEC », within the framework of the «Ecos-Ouverture » programme, was the opportunity for 5 cities to create the Alliance of European Cultural Cities network. This developed successfully from 1998 to 2001. This has resulted in the launching of the European association AVEC that today counts over 30 members in 11 different countries.
• RESIDE : the valorisation of Roman heritage
  the RESIDE project (an Ecos-Ouverture programme) has allowed 5 partners in Europe and one in Tunisia to create a cooperation network on the theme of valorisation of Roman heritage, particularly productive in the fields of: the quality of the products for tourists on archaeological sites(in partnership with craftsmen and archaeologists);; Cultural tourism; the establishment of a prototype database and internet website facilitating access to all sorts of data concerning historic sites (these tools have since been further developed in partnership with the French Ministry of Culture and are now available to Villes et Pays d’Art in France and across Europe to members of the AVEC network)

MAGISTHERE: European diplomas that respond to the needs of the cities.

The MAGISTHERE project (LEONARDO programme) allowed, from 2003 to 2005, 5 cities, 6 universities, an on-going training organisation, together with the French Ministry of Culture and the AVEC network to define the skills and competences that European cities lacked in the domain of heritage management and mediation, allowing universities to create corresponding diplomas. At the end of the project, (April 2005), the partners have created a new European consortium, the European University of Natural and Cultural Heritage ( www.uepcn.org) whose mission is to prolong the action of the project and create a common European Masters degree “ Heritage Management and Mediation in Europe” open to new universities across the continent.

APPEAR : Urban archaeological site accessibility

The APPEAR project (5°PCRD) from 2003 to end of 2005 allows partners (universities, companies and specialised organisations, and the AVEC network) to finalise a ‘good practice’ guide to improve accessibility. .

QUALICITES: towards a European quality standard for sustainable development policies in historic cities.

AVEC is a European association of local communities.

Each local member community of the Alliance of European Cultural Cities (AVEC) includes local actors (citizens, associations, companies, universities, etc.) in its planning and its action through the framework of a local forum. In each city, a local coordinator is designated to look after relations with local partners..

The implication of the public is given considerable importance by the network member groups in all their heritage and cultural activities

Activities and exchanges that directly interest citizens can be arranged. As just one example, let us consider the members of the “vecinos” association from Toledo who visited Tours to establish contacts with their fellow colleagues.

If your city is already a member of the network, contact your local AVEC coordinator. Send your contact details to the European Secretary of AVEC who will pass them on.

If your city is not yet an AVEC member, why not suggest that they join the network?

The AVEC network has the following features:
- It is a European association,
- It groups a limited number of territorial authorities (cities, provinces, regions etc.) who share a common aim: to optimise their policies and administration in order to attain a high level of quality and professionalism in the domain of sustainable development and management of historic cities and territories.
- it organises meetings and exchanges for local elected members and technicians across the whole of Europe;

- AVEC launches and encourages Europe-wide initiatives in order to attain these objectives, such as

- the constitution, in 2000, of the European Charter of Cities and Territories of Culture
- the creation in 2005, of the European University of Natural and Cultural Heritage, in partnership with 6 universities in 5 countries, the French Ministry of Culture and the support of the E.U, preparing a “European Masters in Heritage Management and Mediation in Europe”

- the conception, currently underway, of the future European quality standard for sustainable development of historic cities and territories, with the support of the EU (Interreg IIIC)