Kristina Chobanova
From Cultural Heritage? To Cherga Collective

“Cultural Heritage?” is an entrepreneurial project in the development of the start-up Cherga Collective. Cherga Collective operates in cultural tourism and offers services like organized trips and workshops with a focus on the Bulgarian Communist past.

The project addresses the following research questions: How might we popularize Bulgarian Communist Cultural Heritage on an international scale? Why is it important to raise awareness of Bulgarians and world citizens about Bulgarian Culture and its Communist past? Why is it important to preserve heritage from the past and how could we benefit from it in the future?

Based on the listed questions, the conducted research and applied methods I was able to generate problem-oriented solutions and to build a business plan accordingly. With my business idea, I want to raise awareness about the non-protected Communist Heritage in Bulgaria and focus on a niche market. I want to bring attention on how Bulgarian Communist Heritage can be implemented as a touristic resource and used in an educational and informational way.

To position my project precisely I decided to focus on the Art, Architecture, Design, Food Culture and Heritage produced in the time frame between 1944-1989 in “Communist Bulgaria”. The reason for choosing to focus on Communist Heritage is because nowadays, if not all, many cultural artifacts from that period in Bulgaria are in extreme conditions and are not protected, preserved, or documented.

The outcome of my research and applied methods equals in my idea for a start-up business which I called Cherga Collective. Cherga Collective is a “non-ordinary” travel agency offering a diverse range of experiences and promoting Cultural tourism in Bulgaria on an international scale. In Cherga Collective we have special attention towards the popularization and preservation of Bulgarian heritage, traditions, and history.

With every service booked Cherga Collective will be donating a percentage of the income to the ‘Buzludzha Project’ Foundation to help the restoration of the Buzludzha Monument - one of the most emblematic Communist buildings in Europe.

My goal with Cherga Collective is to help the preservation and popularization of Communist Bulgarian Cultural Heritage and to present it to the international public by engaging in a discussion about the past, the future, and how the different political regimes shaped our present.

MA Design

Kunstgattung: Design Entrepreneurship

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From Cultural Heritage? To Cherga Collective

MA Design