A new working group is meeting to make the most of the HI-People EU network grant for IE.
Following a motion adopted at the IE General Assembly on 25 May 2026, a working group has been established to analyse the opportunities that the EU-funded ‘HI-People’ network grant offers to strengthen IE’s ongoing work. More specifically, this involves:
- Realigning tasks supported by the network grant with IE’s strategic or shorter-term priorities
- Integrating network grant tasks to better support regular IE activities that might also sustain those network grant tasks after the EU grant ends
- Creating opportunities where possible to partially compensate the work of managing, subject and country coordinators
The network grant is not a typical EU project. Instead, it is designed to support and strengthen IE’s structure and activities.
What does that mean, exactly? Well, within HI-People there are many new and existing work package tasks that the working group must consider.
For each work package, the working group examines each of the deliverables and agrees on ways to relate them closely to existing IE structures and activities. Here are two examples:
Firstly, IE must produce a toolkit that heritage organisations may use to measure how effective their interpretive efforts are at fostering visitor or audience awareness and even action about sustainability.
The working group discussed the deliverable and identified the opportunity for the toolkit to focus on the values that put people’s well-being and the interests of the wider world first. This would help heritage organisations think about how their work can contribute to changing mindsets through value-based heritage experiences that underpin sustainability. The toolkit will be developed in consultation with IE members and other heritage interpretation stakeholders.
Secondly, IE must run a new cycle of Learning Landscapes. The working group agreed that any new cycle should build on lessons learned from the first UNESCO-backed initiative. IE will, therefore, develop a revised training curriculum for the new cycle with a stronger focus on participation and facilitation for people with experience in heritage interpretation.
The working group concluded that integrating this new training material into our existing training and certification programme was a priority, so that our training sector benefits from developing and testing concepts for the practical application of the participatory and co-creative methods to meaning making as part of the new paradigm. This helps maximise the value of the new training material, extending its benefits beyond the requirements of the HI-People network grant.
The network grant is, therefore, an opportunity that we should make the most of for IE, using it to support and strengthen what we already do and bring real benefits to our members and heritage stakeholders.
At the time of writing, the working group currently comprises Managing Directors Helena Vičič and Gerald Wagenhofer, Valya Stergioti, Thorsten Ludwig, HI-People Project Manager and Project Assistant, Sandy Colvine and Ilaria Scarmagnan. So far, the group has met five times between July and September to discuss how to more closely align different tasks to IE’s needs.
Finally, the General Assembly also tasked the working group with ensuring transparency. The group has drafted a set of rules of procedure and there will also be a dedicated space in our online members’ area to share information about the original HI-People network grant proposals, the working group proposals for better synergies, and records of its meetings.
The intention is to enable members to get involved whether this is following progress, sharing ideas, or joining the working group’s efforts.
Alexander (Sandy) Colvine is IE’s Project Manager for the HI-People network grant. He can be contacted at: alexander.colvine@interpret-europe.net.
