This is the second volume of the Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics special issue, presenting a selection of articles arising from two interrelated scholarly events held at the University of Tartu, Estonia, in the summer of 2009. One of them, an interdisciplinary international network and training course entitled “Local Knowledge and Open Borders: Creativity and Heritage”, comprised a session of lectures and seminars covering various perspectives and methodological approaches within heritage studies. This session included the maintenance, celebration and manipulation of cultural heritage in its role of negotiating between creativity and conservation, and featured contributions from both senior and junior scholars from various parts of Europe.