Adapting, people-pleasing and self-censoring in interpretation.
Freedom of expression is making way for ‘feardom’ of expression in every area of our lives, and heritage interpretation isn’t exempt. Some fields have been pointing to issues such as self-censorship, commercial pressure, societal sensitivity, cancel culture, backlash, neutrality, and audience alienation, even though they still don’t offer real solutions. Heritage interpretation communities haven’t even started this discussion. Review-based environment, self-censorship and their sister phenomena have crept into the work of heritage interpreters, taming their creative aspirations and neutralising their output. This affects both interpreters and society.
Anyone who deals with audiences is bound to face reviews, and the very notion of it will influence their work. The influence can be very direct, with management looking for highly rated personnel, or it can result from adapting what you deliver to anything that will gain five stars. There are several problems here. For starters, you cannot please everyone, but that doesn’t mean a bad review doesn’t hurt a venue, a business, or a person. On the other hand, if an experience is praised by the majority, with constant fabulous ratings, it might have already turned to the dark side of people-pleasing.
There is a limitation to value-based heritage interpretation in practice, as interpreters need to check many boxes. They should be enthusiastic about the heritage they’re presenting and, at the same time, ready to lead a fruitful and meaningful discussion that challenges harmful views. People who are enthusiastic about anything are often passionate, and it’s hard to be diplomatic when a fire is burning within you. Interpreters should also show significant empathy while resisting the urge to be too accommodating. As interpreters, we are well aware of potentially provocative situations, and we might, because we are only human, decide to tone down or even dismiss topics that promote tolerance, inclusion, antifascism, and everything that should be at the core of our shared European values. If we are honest, we sometimes don’t dare to openly criticise the practices that run against our own values, simply because of the very human feeling of fear.
This short article is just food for thought and an invitation to read the full paper on this subject in the Interpret Europe Conference Proceedings. I presented it at the 2026 conference in Faro, Portugal. I’m normally good with time management in presentations, but I barely managed to cover one-third of what I had planned to share due to the room’s immediate response. Everyone had questions and wanted to share their stories and views. Up until the end of the conference, people kept coming up to me to share their experiences dealing with unfair reviews, management expectations, and all the topics mentioned above. There is an apparent need for exchange.
The full paper includes my own experience, insightful resources, raises more questions, and is enriched by the honest contributions of two interesting women who shared their stories. I would love to hear from you, too, whether you simply wish to share your thoughts or have an idea on how to approach all this actively and constructively.
The full paper will be published in the 2026 conference proceedings, available on the IE website:
https://interpret-europe.net/material/
Iva Silla is an experience designer and the owner of the creative tourism brands Secret Zagreb and Croatia Underrated. She is an active Interpret Europe trainer. Contact her at: iva@questoftales.com.
To cite this article: Silla, Iva (2026) “Bow your views to reviews”, Interpret Europe Newsletter Summer 2026, pp. 19–20. Available online: Interpret Europe Newsletter Summer 2026
