Announcement: Registration open for “For Them and By Them: Involving Stakeholders and Communities in Interpretation” Conference

You may remember that I mentioned a few months ago that I am organising a conference at my site about involving stakeholders and communities in interpretation. I am pleased to announce that registration is now open. Spaces are limited, so if you're interested please register as soon as possible. This is a one-day conference that … Continue reading Announcement: Registration open for “For Them and By Them: Involving Stakeholders and Communities in Interpretation” Conference →

Update on our young people’s project: Is this interpretation?

Three months ago I blogged about the HLF funding I secured for a young people’s project at my site. This week, we’re completing the first activity of the project – the ‘research’ phase -, which I thought was a good time to share an update and explain why this is interpretation also. We started off … Continue reading Update on our young people’s project: Is this interpretation? →

For Them and By Them: Involving Stakeholders and Communities in Interpretation

Last week, the Heritage Lottery Fund approved a grant for a project I’m planning that involves young people in the heritage of my site, and its interpretation. I am hugely excited about this. For one thing, the project is all about interpretation as facilitation, as I explained in a recent post [1]. The other aspect … Continue reading For Them and By Them: Involving Stakeholders and Communities in Interpretation →

Resistance is futile, or: Interpretation and Managing Change

I attended a course today on coaching people through change. There were several suggestions and tools, which I found particularly useful, and which gave me some food for thought for interpretation also: 1. What makes a good coach? There are a few principles for a good coach, and it struck me that many of … Continue reading Resistance is futile, or: Interpretation and Managing Change →

Target audiences and access in interpretation practice: Emma Waterton’s critique

I’ve recently read Emma Waterton’s excellent book Politics, Policy and the Discourses of Heritage in Britain. Waterton is not an interpreter, but much of her writing applies directly to interpretation also. As in her other writings, Waterton raises excellent and critical questions in this book. Some of these are of immediate relevance to interpreters: … Continue reading Target audiences and access in interpretation practice: Emma Waterton’s critique →

Interpretation is… a facilitated process

I have just recently submitted an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a project primarily (but not exclusively) aimed at young people at my current site. Last week, HLF asked me to clarify how creating a young people’s area in our historic park was intended to help young people to understand the heritage of … Continue reading Interpretation is… a facilitated process →

We are all indigenous (when it comes to our heritage)

I’ve been doing some more reading recently about indigenous communities and heritage management especially in the United States, Canada and Australia. My own research is about delivering public benefit through heritage management and interpretation using England and Germany as case studies. However, the writings about management of indigenous heritage are really useful in this. They … Continue reading We are all indigenous (when it comes to our heritage) →

Target audiences in interpretation

In a recent conversation, an interpretation colleague asked me how I addressed target audiences in my interpretive practice. They didn’t elaborate; it was quite obvious that they considered target audiences to be such an obvious part of interpretation that no further qualification of the concept was required. Something about this unquestioned assertion sat uncomfortably with … Continue reading Target audiences in interpretation →

Do we interpret heritage because we’re disconnected from it?

During my readings I have come across this interesting quote by West and McKellar [1]: ‘By definition, interpretation as a heritage practice is a western discourse that has become necessary because official heritage has become disconnected from everyday understandings.’ It is a statement worth thinking about in greater depth. Most interpreters would readily agree that … Continue reading Do we interpret heritage because we’re disconnected from it? →