Interpret Europe’s Conference Coordinator Bettina Lehnes and Country Coordinator Portugal, Pedro Morais, are just back from Faro where they spent some packed and exciting days. It’s now time to bring all their impressions together to provide a memorable conference programme for you.

The old town of Faro enchants and captivates with a labyrinth of narrow cobbled streets lined with seventeenth- and eighteenth-century houses and a Gothic cathedral at its centre where you find many traces of its history and feel the spirit of the city’s eventful past.

Off Faro’s shore lies the Parque Natural da Rio Formosa, a labyrinth of canals, islands, salt marshes, mudflats and sandbanks which attracts a great range of marine life and migratory birds and is the most important natural resource in the south of Portugal.

While we are still discussing the possibilities, developing new ideas and discarding others to create the next exciting conference for you, it is certain that we cannot possibly gather in Faro without talking about the Faro Convention. The Council of Europe’s Faro Convention of 2005 was a groundbreaking milestone towards a value-based and more inclusive understanding of heritage. Although written for the field of cultural heritage, its values and principles can inspire nature interpretation in the same way. Today, the Faro Convention is even more relevant than ever, while its potential to enhance theory and practice of all heritage interpretation is still not fully embraced.

Let’s come together and reflect on the ethics and methods of heritage interpretation related to the Faro spirit, aiming to engage diverse heritage communities in interpretive co‐creation.

You can learn what the Faro convention is about here: https://rm.coe.int/1680083746 

If you want to find out a little more about Faro and our hosting partners, please keep an eye on the conference website and information will be added as we have it: www.interpreteuropeconference.net. We will use the summer to provide more information soon and issue the call for papers by October.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or suggestions, or would like to offer your support, please contact Bettina Lehnes at: bettina.lehnes@interpret-europe.net.

We are looking forward to seeing many of you in Faro in April 2026!

To cite this article: IE Conference Team (2025)  ‘Interpret Europe conference 2026 – Save the date!‘  in Interpret Europe Newsletter 2-2025, pg.25.
Available online: Newsletter summer 2025

During the webinar, the process of applying successfully for Erasmus+ funding for Certified Interpretive Guide (CIG) and Certified Interpretive Writer (CIW) courses programs will be presented. Insights will be shared from the experience of obtaining an Erasmus+ grant to organize CIG and CIW courses in Croatia for 30 staff members from the Józef Piłsudski Museum in Sulejówek (Poland). Additionally, a second Erasmus+ grant for similar training at the Maria Skłodowska-Curie Museum will be discussed. This webinar will provide practical advice on navigating the application process and tips for making your project successful. If you wish to take part in the webinar, please register here at least one hour before the webinar begins. ***Please register using the same email address associated with your IE membership.***

Barbara Gołębiowska is an art historian and museum professional with 25 years of experience. She is the Director of the Maria Skłodowska-Curie Museum in Warsaw, formerly the creator and head of the Education Department at the Józef Piłsudski Museum in Sulejówek and coordinator of the Erasmus+ programme. During this programme, 30 museum employees earned CIG and CIW certificates. She is the IE coordinator in Poland, a Certified Interpretive Planner and Guide and has completed the Trainers course in Arnoga in 2023 (during final certification). She is also the Trainer at Echocast, a practice-oriented training programme for customer service in heritage institutions.

Join the next one:

Tuesday, 20August, 04:30 CEST
Creating First Nations Community-led Digital Interpretation at Murrook Culture Centre

Murrook Culture Centre is a special project, not only to the Worimi Local Aboriginal Land Council and Community, whose Culture it shares and with whom it was co-created every step of the way, not only to our extended team of interpreters, creatives, technologists, designers, producers, cinematographers, historians and other specialists. It is also recognised as special by multiple Excellence Awards programs’ judges, who are experienced professionals in the field of heritage, culture and technology, as well as diverse visitors. Join Beata Kade as she takes you through the journey of creating this Digital Interpretation experience at Murrook.

Beata Kade is the Managing Director of Art of Multimedia, an interactive design studio that crafts compelling communications and immersive cultural experiences for enduring impact. She is also the current Treasurer of Interpretation Australia.

Participation is free of charge. You can register here.

Join the next one:

Tuesday, 11 June, 22:00 CEST
New voices at the table: Using interdisciplinary Interpretive Planning to transform visitor experiences

From ideation to installation, interpretive planners push boundaries to infuse new perspectives and challenge norms in exhibit and experience design. Join Lauryn Record, Senior Strategist-Interpretive Planning & Creative Services at the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo to discuss the advantages of having an interpretive voice at the table from the beginning of a project. Use the case study from Wild Canada, a reimagined zone at the zoo, Lauryn will discuss infusing interpretive stories into architecture and theming while amplifying new and underrepresented perspectives into the visitor journey. This session will be helpful for anyone looking to advocate for the importance of interpretative inclusion in decision making and all those who want to ensure diverse voices are included in the stories we tell.

Lauryn Record is a storyteller and place-maker who looks to craft experiences that more deeply connect people with the natural world through exceptional interpretive design. She is proud to live and work on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy and the nations of Treaty 7, including the Stoney Nakoda and Tsuut’ina First Nations, as well as Metis Nation Region 3.

Participation is free of charge. You can register here.

Join the next one:

Wednesday, 10 April, 19:30 CEST
Parks for All!

Design with diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in mind! Discover how the East Bay Regional Park District is implementing standards for DEI through partnerships and community building, programming, as well as through the creation of accessible interpretive materials, and visitor center exhibits. We will share some insights and tools to make your programming and exhibits more inclusive and accessible for all.

Alex Collins, Naturalist (she/her) and Erica Stephens, Naturalist, (she/her)

From Denali to Zion, Erica spent over ten years as an Interpretive Park Ranger for the National Park Service. She now works for the East Bay Regional Park District as a Naturalist at Sunol Wilderness where she loves interpreting nature and paleontology, especially through her popular nature journaling programs.

Alex Collins is a Naturalist at Del Valle, part of the East Bay Regional Park District. Before the parks, Alex worked for 10+ years in residential environmental education on both coasts. Currently she is part of the Park District’s newest visitor center team, creating new exhibits and programs within a popular and established park.

Participation is free of charge. You can register here.

Join the next one:

Tuesday, 12 December, 22:00 CET
“ I Don’t Know What That is But I Love That It’s There”: Rethinking the social values and public outcomes of in situ archaeological conservation and presentation in Australia

Interpretation of in situ archaeological remains is commonly framed by archaeologists and other heritage professionals as an educational endeavour. It is based on an understanding that the primary purpose of archaeology is the production of knowledge about the past and an associated sense of responsibility to communicate this knowledge to the public. But is this long-received notion based on an accurate understanding of the ways that archaeological places actually work in communities in the present?

Recent research suggests that archaeological remains do far more than provide knowledge about the past. This talk draws on interviews undertaken with hundreds of members of the public at archaeological places that have been conserved and presented in situ in new developments in Australia, along with international research on place attachment, belonging, wellbeing and resilience. It explores the social, emotional and imaginative experiences that people have with archaeological remains and the ways these direct relationships work to create outcomes far beyond the transmission of archaeological knowledge to the public: outcomes such as individual and community resilience and wellbeing, identity building, belonging and social cohesion.

This research offers a challenge to interpreters to step beyond a focus on the past and to embrace the creative possibilities that archaeological remains offer in the present and for the future. It also highlights the importance of developing evidence-based and benefit-based heritage management frameworks that understand and respond to the way heritage works in communities and aims to support direct and meaningful relationships between people and heritage places.

Dr Caitlin Allen is a Sydney-based archaeologist and heritage specialist. She worked for the NSW State Government for nearly two decades as a heritage administrator and hands-on practitioner. In recent years she has been working as a sessional lecturer in heritage and museum studies at The University of Sydney. Her current research interests focus on social values and place attachment, including the ways archaeological remains contribute to the creation of liveable cities and community wellbeing. Caitlin is a Member of the NSW Heritage Council’s Approvals Committee, an Expert Member of ICAHM and a former Vice President of Australia ICOMOS.

Participation is free of charge. You can register here.

Join the next one:

Friday, 25 August, 00:00 CEST
Te Taiao | Nature: Merging Māori knowledge and science to spark sustainable action. 

If you don’t feel like sleeping on the night of 24/25 August, you can join the GAHI webinar held by our New Zealander colleagues. However, don’t worry, we’ll share the recording in our Facebook group as soon as it is available.

Join Frith Williams, Head of Experience and Content at Te Papa Tongarewa, Aotearoa New Zealand’s national museum, and dive into the the development of Te Taiao | Nature. This nature focused exhibition experience weaves Mātauranga Māori (traditional Māori knowledge) with science to spark sustainable action. Frith Williams has 19 years of experience at Te Papa Tongarewa.

Participation is free of charge. You can register here.

Join the next one:

Thursday, 1 June, 17:00 CEST
Participatory and Dialogic Interpretation: Inspire through PIE and TALK

Join Dr. Jacquie to dig into the Participatory Interpretation “PIE” model, which encourages interpretation that starts with Participation, is followed by Information, and ends with Encouragement to action. Next, we will look at Dialogic Interpretation using the “TALK” model – Talk Types, Ask Great Questions, Lead with Facilitation Techniques, and Keep on Inspiring. Find out how Jacquie has success training interpreters using these two models that encourage them to engage visitors in two-way interactions, helping to make the topic relevant and meaningful to visitors. Join in this interactive session for your bite of PIE and taste of TALK!

Dr. Jacquie Gilson is a career interpreter. She received her Doctor of Social Sciences degree from Royal Roads University after studying the concept of inspiration in interpretation. Jacquie runs InterpActive and sits on the board of Interpretation Canada.

This series is free, but you need to register here.

Join the next one:

Thursday, 20 April, 16:00 CEST
Interpretive planning at World Heritage Sites – experiences from Europe

Together with UNESCO, Interpret Europe embarked on a journey to examine the role of heritage interpretation in World Heritage Sites, Global Geoparks and Biosphere Reserves. In this context, UNESCO suggested heritage interpretation as a core mandate of visitor centres at UNESCO-designated sites, fostering UNESCO’s key values: peace and sustainability.

In return, Interpret Europe revised its five-day CIP (Certified Interpretive Planner) course towards more value-based heritage interpretation.

Interpret Europe’s updated CIP course formed the central module of UNESCO’s two-year WH-Interp programme. Forty-two managers and planners associated with World Heritage were trained on-site to explore the transformative impact interpretation can have on visitors and communities.

Join an exchange with UNESCO officials, World Heritage managers/ planners, and Interpret Europe trainers on challenges and prospects for value-based interpretive planning.

This series is free, but you need to register here.

This new museum has already welcomed a multitude of people who came to connect to the living heritage of bećarac (becharac) in a new way. Bećarac is a traditional vocal-instrumental song that is considered an intangible cultural heritage of Croatia and is protected by UNESCO. This small but powerful song consists of only two rhyming ten-point verses but sings about nearly all the aspects of one’s life, with an emphasis on love and eroticism.

Bećarac lives through its people 

As intangible heritage, bećarac does not exist without the people who live it and protect it. Bećarac, in its humorous and provocative tone, is most often performed as a form of dialogue or vocal duelling. Its vitality lies in its actuality, because despite his centuries-old form (bećarac was first documented in the 18th century) it is still the favourite way of communicating a vast variety of emotions, views and attitudes in Eastern Croatia. People there also like to call it ‘Šokački haiku’ (Shokac haiku).

Presenting the bećarac is therefore unthinkable without connecting visitors to the bećarac heirs themselves. The Museum of Bećarac has become a medium that conveys their voices, while at the same time enabling each visitor to connect to the content in a playful, yet meaningful way. 

Intangible heritage through tangible media

The permanent exhibition is organised in five large thematic units covering 426sqm of carefully designed scenography, rich with numerous interactive experiences. The exhibition shows bećarac through the stories of the wine culture of Slavonia, through all phases of human life, through the calendar year and customs, and finally through contemporary and different, sometimes technologically advanced, views.

Each exhibit brings unique experiences that encourage visitors to engage, participate and connect with the exhibition content, but also to connect with each other. The entire exhibition is interwoven with the stories of the native bećari and bećaruše who, through their personal stories in videos, share with visitors their personal connection with this living heritage. Original museum objects form an important part of the display, also carrying their stories woven into them by their owners. 

The technology used for exhibits always has a deeper cause, and that is to create a variety of interaction and possibilities for visitor participation. More than 40 multimedia and interactive exhibits depict bećarac through modern and technologically advanced methods, calling every visitor to participate and co-create. You can see and hear intimate stories of individual bećarac heirs through video presentations. Visitors can experience different customs shown in documentaries that have a strong artistic expression. Numerous green screen recordings made for development of some interactive exhibits bring the visitors closer to virtual, but very real, singing contests between the singers of bećarac, or a battle between bećar and a rapper. Visitors can vote for their preferred performance and the votes are added so they can also see who won – bećar or rapper. 

Visitors can also leave their mark on this exhibition by assembling the bećarac themselves, dancing with the people of Pleternica wearing the national costume or singing the bećarac with a singing group of bećari and becaruše. One intriguing exhibit allows visitors to meet a robotic bećaruša, who encourages visitors to question the creative power of artificial intelligence. 

The long process to develop the exhibition’s rich content

Our interdisciplinary team at Muses Ltd., together with the stakeholders of the Museum of Bećarac, has been present since the very beginning. We have been working on this project for eight years, creating not only important managing documents for the Museum of Bećarac, but also the conceptual and constructional museological documentation. On this final stage, the implementation of the permanent exhibition, we also worked with an immense network of collaborators including co-authors in the areas of graphic and product design, important individuals from the local community and scientific circles, but also a number of great artists and creatives that contributed to the development of the content of this permanent exhibition – production companies, illustrators, photographers, sculptors and animators. 

The permanent exhibition includes over 400 bećarac songs, written, translated to English and sung, 50 videos showing the stories of people and displays of various traditional customs, 200 illustrations and photographs, the collection of 200 original museum objects that have been restored and expertly prepared for presentation, all produced in just a few months.

This makes it one of the most comprehensive permanent museum exhibitions in Croatia and a unique home for this intangible heritage that leads every visitor to the heart of Slavonia.

Melita Trbušić has been a member of the team at Muses Ltd since 2019. She dedicates her work in the field of heritage interpretation to the development of different types and forms of visitor experiences and enjoys bringing people closer to their heritage. She can be contacted at: melita.trbusic@muze.hr.

To cite this article: Trbušić, Melita (2023) ‘Bećarac – A small song that tells a big story’ in Interpret Europe Newsletter 1-2023, pg. 17-18.

Available online: https://interpret-europe.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/PDF-Newsletter-2023_1-spring.pdf