IE enters an exciting new phase as we celebrate the start of two big projects.
Are you familiar with the saying, “You wait ages for a bus and then two come along at the same time”? Well, that is basically what happened when IE engaged internal and external expertise in a concerted effort to secure funding from two European programmes, and both were successful! The programmes offer opportunities to develop in-house operational capabilities and pilot a hands-on project to test value-based heritage interpretation with local communities and these two projects will together form the cornerstone of IE’s next phase of development.
The first project is called HI-People. It is a 4-year project funded by the EU Creative Europe Programme which offers a strand supporting actions for cultural heritage. Starting soon, HI-People is a capacity building project for IE to drive the shift to a more people-centred paradigm respecting the range of meanings and values people attribute to heritage.
That work has begun with the Learning Landscapes initiative and revisions to the IE training programme but HI-People will finally give us the means to build on these notable advances and reinforce our efforts to conduct thorough research, pilot practical actions and be a stronger voice for value-based and people-centred cultural heritage practice, professional proficiency and strategic policy. A ‘framework of reference’ for value-based and people-centred interpretation will be drafted to support a wide range of coherent interpretive activities in the cultural heritage sector: the creative arts, digital technology, community participation, environmental and social sustainability, co-creation partnerships with peer organisations (particularly UNESCO WHIPIC).
Central to this will be our recently revised training programme to deliver new courses to heritage organisations and professionals, trainer summer schools and even the creation of an IE training centre.
Crucially, HI-People focuses on members too. We will refresh our website and add platforms for member-led exchange and joint project-working opportunities on this subject for mutual benefit. These new skills may also open up business opportunities for freelancers and consultants to deliver new training activities for workshops or community consultation activities, for example.
The European grant amounts to €800,000 once co-financing has been factored in. It will cover research, online and onsite activities and communication. Rest assured, we will make it go a long way but voluntary input from members will still be critical to success. Yet, by improving our organisational capacity and systems our collective efforts will be more focused on impacts and returns with the aim of generating professional development opportunities for members underpinned by our heightened profile as a hub for value-based and people-centred heritage interpretation with peer organisations in the European heritage sector.
The second project, Empaths, is a 30-month transnational cooperation project worth €250,000 between six partners, funded by the European Erasmus+ Programme. Underway since October 2024, it involves partners from Austria (Geopark Karawanken-Karavanke), Italy (The Story Behind and the Ministry of Culture archaeological park of Campi Flegrei) and Greece (Initiative for Heritage Conservation and the Ethnological Museum of Thrace) alongside Interpret Europe. The aim is to research, develop, test and finalise a training programme for heritage professionals to work with local communities to capture how local people perceive and value their natural and cultural heritage.
Running participatory and inclusive heritage consultations and co-creation workshops is a real challenge for many heritage professionals but vital given the shift from traditional top-down conservation-based expertise to a more open and democratic approach first promoted by the Faro Convention in 2005.
A highlight of Empaths will be its ‘community labs’ to be held in the Austrian Geopark, the Italian archaeological park and the hinterland of the ethnological museum in Thrace, Greece, supported by IE, The Story Behind and Initiative for Heritage Conservation respectively.
These labs will be test-beds for heritage professionals to facilitate community participation to identify heritage stories together with the meanings and values people attach to them. The resulting training programme will foster meaningful exchanges that can be used in interpretive strategies and plans in which local people are the actors of their own heritage assisted by heritage professionals.
Smaller in comparison to HI-People yet intense and fast-moving, Empaths will expand our knowledge and experience in participatory value-based heritage interpretation in other territorial settings alongside the ongoing Learning Landscapes initiative involving a selection of UNESCO World Heritage sites.
As you can see, both projects are designed to support IE’s work and profile over the coming years as a leading advocate and practitioner of value-based heritage interpretation in which people are at the heart of their own heritage. We are delighted that the European Union has chosen to invest in our organisation and our community, and we are excited that we now have the means to channel our efforts more effectively for the wider benefit of our members and the European heritage sector in all its diversity.
Look out for more news on both HI-People and Empaths soon on the IE website and social media.
Sandy Colvine is IE’s project manager for both these projects. He can be contacted at: alexander.colvine@interpret-europe.net.
To cite this article: Colvine, Sandy (2024) ‘Europe invests in Interpret Europe!‘ in Interpret Europe Newsletter 4-2024, pg.8-9.
Available online: https://interpret-europe.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Newsletter-2024_4.pdf
