'How to transfer hedge weaving to young people?'

'How can the tradition of Maasheggen weaving be transferred to young people?'
With that question as a starting point, Ilse Zuidinga, a student in the Cultural Heritage program at the Reinwardt Academy in Amsterdam, conducted research on how to get more young people interested in Maasheggenweaving.

She finds that young people are willing to get involved in hedge weaving, provided they feel they are 'getting better at something', they are rewarded for their behavior, they get a chance to 'belong' through hedge weaving ánd they get to influence how hedge weaving is done in the future.
Zuidinga also makes a number of recommendations in her research report 'The new generation of hedge weavers', such as

• Involve local scouts in the hedge weaving;
• During the NK, work with more prize categories and make available, for example, an incentive prize or a special youth prize;
• To gain a better understanding of how young people think about the tradition of hedge weaving, organize a conversation between young and old.

"By starting the conversation with young people, you find out what they find important in a tradition. More common denominators may emerge than you would initially think. It brings new input into conversations about tradition. You also show with conversation that you are open to youth participation. Young people start to feel more responsible as a result and also become bearers of the tradition," Zuidinga said.