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

What can be achieved in four days of conversations, presentations, lectures, workshops, meals, bus rides and site visits, with a view to sustainable development within the heritage interpretation sector? Considering where these ultimate frontiers stand, how we can challenge mindsets in the process and what this actually means is why over 120 people came from all over Europe and beyond to a welcoming town at the top of the Istrian peninsular.

As Interpret Europe’s Managing Director, Helena Vičič, reminded us in her welcome speech, we might find some guiding principles in the UN’s Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and for Global Citizenship (EGC), and the European Commission’s Stormy Times report. How we might actually step up to the challenge(s) was beautifully and generously set out by one of the keynote speakers, Professor David Uzzell of the University of Surrey, UK, in the form of ‘giving away’ the skills of interpretation so that people can work things out for themselves at other sites, too. This might help us all take responsibility locally for our own spaces and communities, when the issues we face are often so easily dismissed as ‘global’ (and thus some higher power’s responsibility instead). The global ‘issue’ (I use the word with affection) of interpretation and the World Heritage Sustainable Development Policy is, in turn, the recipient of in-depth care and investigations at WHIPIC in South Korea, led by Sujeong Lee, another keynote speaker. She came to both share and discuss with us in Europe. And, as reading the conference programme abstracts and memories of our interactions attests, so many of us brought our equally valuable own work, case studies, ideas and inspirations from 24 countries.

Koper/ Capodistria was the perfect setting for our conference: a multicultural Adriatic gem, whose warm embrace can be fast felt by anyone arriving through the town’s walls, not to mention also due to the presence of the UNESCO Chair of Interpretation and Education for Enhancing Integrated Heritage Approaches at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Primorska, our generous hosts. This sensation of coming to our IE home for a few days was even more important after the lengthy journeys that many of the participants undertook to come to Koper, putting sustainability into action with slow travel and for some, a number of stops en route to appreciate more of our beautiful continent, its heritage, nature and people.

From the determination with which two ladies from Slovenia stood up in Sighișoara, Romania, at the end of the 2023 conference to assure us we could come together once again this year, through the unrelenting efforts of IE’s management, team and volunteers to deliver the necessary admin and activities, to the dedication with which the presentations, workshops and visits were prepared and the subsequent dynamism with which they were imparted, and the warmth with which old friends and new gathered together to share knowledge, ideas and experiences… All of this is testament to the sustainability of heritage interpretation in Europe and beyond. 

For a sector that is based around both adding value and disseminating specific values, via engagement, preservation, understanding, and sharing, we need impassioned, knowledgeable, inclusive, kind and analytical individuals to do this work. This is the way in which a strong eco-system of heritage interpretation – of both trained interpreters, and publics empowered to interpret heritage for themselves and across their spheres of influence – can be passed on to the next generations. Even against the complex backdrop of climate goals going ever further off-track, rising nationalism across many of our countries and the related polarisation of societies, technology (specifically AI) behaving badly, and various other factors, as covered in the keynote by Lluís Bonet of CHARTER and the University of Barcelona, whose skills as an economist brought a whole new set of interpretations to the heritage sector’s status quo. 

In spite of, and also because of all this, our best answer as to what sustainable development within the heritage interpretation sector truly means, requires and how it can be achieved, has been found in ourselves. As sustainability is always contemporary and is about us and our communities, as voiced by another of the keynote speakers, Špela Spanžel of the Slovenian Ministry of Culture, we must continue to nurture it within ourselves, our practices and relationships. With strength, empathy, flexibility to the tides and all the publics who we will join and will join us, we will do this all the way to Sulejówek 2025, where we will once again be able to take stock and share our insights and emotions when we meet again, next time in Poland.

Elisa Bailey is a curator, museologist and cultural strategist dedicated to making the cultural sector a kinder place for all, with a particular focus on commemorative practices and spaces, and socio-political graphics. She is based in Madrid, Spain. She can be contacted at: elisa@curacultura.art.  

To cite this article: Bailey, Elisa (2024) ‘Finding the future of heritage interpretation within ourselves’ in Interpret Europe Newsletter 1-2024, pg.5-6.
Available online: https://interpret-europe.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PDF-Newsletter_2024_1-spring.pdf

Our conference team is working away to ensure that we are ready to welcome you to Slovenia for our next conference, Sustainability: Challenging mindsets through heritage interpretation, on 21-24 March 2024.

Slovenia is described as a ‘green jewel in the heart of Europe’, ‘green heaven’, ‘Europe in miniature’, and other similarly poetic expressions. Although it is not located in the geographical centre of the continent, it lies at the intersection of cultures: Latin, German, Slavic and Hungarian worlds. Consequently, its culture and language is a product from this melting pot of all these influences that shaped a unique cultural mixture, resulting in an enormous variety of cultural expressions and dialects in a tiny territory.

The country’s former tourism slogan, ‘On the sunny side of Alps’, revealed its climate and geography. Whereas the current tourism slogan, ‘I feel SLOVEnia’, suggests that you will, too, fall in love with the place. But, away from this romantic poetry, Slovenia can boast about many things: vast areas (64% of its land) covered in forest and one of the most progressive forest management systems, with a fair number of European beasts that have been successfully reintroduced in nature; culinary delights, as diverse as its landscape; high responsibility and respect towards nature and traditional practices; and plenty of heritage jewels along off-the-beaten-track paths that we’ll visit during study visits.

During iecon24 in March, we’ll explore places that can offer the best interpretive experiences in the region. Not only in Slovenia, but also in its neighbours – Croatia and Italy.
Check out our range of interesting study visits: https://www.interpreteuropeconference.net/study-visits/

Travel to and from the conference can be an opportunity to add extra inspiration by connecting further with colleagues, whilst also seeing some of the more well-known and crowded tourist spots. You may join us for an additional tour before or after the conference and joining us for a visit of the capital Ljubljana at your arrival and driving together to Venice on the way home is a good option to experience these two places. However, we’ll not be staying on the usual tourist routes. Our hosts will reveal another side of the story and also talk about sustainability of the places. Find out more here:

https://www.interpreteuropeconference.net/pre-conference-tour/

https://www.interpreteuropeconference.net/post-conference-tour/

We have received a number of very promising abstracts for sessions and workshops that will open discussions at all layers of the conference theme. We will hear about local projects and research findings and discuss successful approaches as well as open questions and challenges. Together, maybe we will find some solutions.

Finally, we are extremely excited about the renowned speakers that will provoke our thoughts each day with their opening keynotes. David Uzzel, a deserving professor and researcher of heritage interpretation has dedicated his latest works to sustainability psychology and will be happy to exchange views with us regarding the potentials and limitations of heritage interpretation in fostering sustainability mindsets. Whereas Lluis Bonet from the University of Barcelona and Špela Spanžel from the Cultural Heritage Directorate Slovenia will highlight our joint endeavors from other angles.

You can find out more about our keynote speakers here: https://www.interpreteuropeconference.net/keynote-speakers/

If you have submitted an abstract for a presentation, you will be hearing from the conference team during January. It is now time to start booking up your place! The early bird discount fees are available until 9 February so don’t delay!

We are looking forward to meeting many of you (again) in March for the next lively Interpret Europe conference!

Bettina Lehnes is IE’s Events Coordinator. You can contact her at: bettina.lehnes@interpret-europe.net.

Helena Vicic is IE’s Managing Director. You can contact her at: helena.vicic@interpret-europe.net.

For all conference enquiries, you can reach the local organising team at: management@interpreteuropeconference.net.

To cite this article: Lehnes, Bettina & Vicic, Helena (2023) ‘Challenge your mindset‘  in Interpret Europe Newsletter 4-2023, pg.6-7.
Available online: https://interpret-europe.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IE-Newsletter-2023_4-winter.pdf

There is hardly any layer in our societal tissue that is not concerned by the serious situation that we are currently facing. Mainstream politics advocate more sustainable growth, since any solution other than growth seems unacceptable to many people. On the other hand, activists believe that people need to make a radical shift in their mindsets and lifestyles. 

Could museums, monuments, parks and other heritage sites help people to interpret heritage in a way that makes them more mindful towards our common future? Could they complement formal learning that is usually more focused on knowledge by reflecting upon our shared values? Could they also use the interpretive approach to initiate bottom-up movements and foster local small-scale initiatives leading to more sustainable thinking and acting?  

Value-based heritage interpretation has been recognised by UNESCO as a promising approach for fostering peace and sustainability and it is already being adopted by dozens of World Heritage Sites across Europe. Can it challenge people’s mindsets in a way that doesn’t focus on doom and gloom but keeps their spirits up for successful transition?

Koper, a green-labelled multicultural destination, will be the location for our exchanges on such questions. Capodistria or Capo d’Istria, as the Venetians called it, is a small harbour city and the bilingual capital of the Slovenian coastal region, but the conference will also be hosted by a dozen of other heritage sites from Slovenia, Croatia, and Italy. This lively crossroads area of cultures and languages, the junction of South, West and East, is rich in history, with a difficult past but now a more peaceful coexistence in a united Europe that should be able to inspire us. What’s more, the karst hinterland with its countless underground caves, Mediterranean vegetation and the wild  fir and spruce forests of the Dinaric Alps, home to numerous rare species, will provide us with many opportunities for taking deep breaths in nature.

Our pre-conference Alpe-Adria tour starts on 20 March in Villach (Austria), a historic Alpine city in the province of Carinthia and about 2.5 hours drive by car from Koper. You can also reach Villach or Koper by train from Venice (Italy), which will be the final destination of our post-conference tour ending on 25 March so you may choose to begin your conference experience there. Koper can be reached by public transport from Ljubljana in 1.5 to 2.5 hours and from Trieste centre in 30 minutes. Please consider travelling across Europe slower and cleaner by train or by bus, meeting colleagues and visiting places on your way.

The conference will be organised by the UNESCO Chair for Interpretation and Education for Enhancing Integrated Heritage Approaches at the University of Primorska and the Faculty of Humanities UP. Primorska, on the Adriatic coast, is the westernmost region of Slovenia and the university building, on the picturesque mediaeval town square of Koper, will be our main venue. 

Make sure you join us in March 2024 at the IE conference, Sustainability: Challenging mindsets through heritage interpretation!

It will offer an exciting programme created by colleagues from all over the world with speeches, workshops, presentations, study visits and much more. You will be informed about travel, accommodation, presentations and much more in September.

We look forward to welcoming you to Slovenia – and its neighbours!

Bettina Lehnes is IE’s Event Coordinator. She can be contacted at: Bettina.lehnes@interpret-europe.net. 

To cite this article:  Lehnes, Bettina (2023) ‘#iecon24: Save the date!‘ in Interpret Europe Newsletter 2-2023, pg. 31-32.
Available online: https://interpret-europe.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Newsletter-2023_2-summer.pdf

Most recent debates about climate and environmental issues force us to reconsider purposes of our own work at heritage sites. Do we interpreters have a responsibility to respond to contemporary challenges? Or shall we just educate about heritage? IE’s philosophy is that heritage is not there for us to learn about, but to learn from it for the future! Tourism also searches for ways to become more sustainable, so there is great potential if we team up and tackle the most critical challenges together.

You probably share an opinion that if we really want to take sustainable tourism to the next level, we need to reach to people’s hearts AND minds, make them love our planet and to collaborate with each other with respect. We believe that meaningful encounters and experiences of the natural and cultural heritage around us, conveying emotions of compassion, respect and appreciation will make people mindful enough to critically reflect upon their lifestyles.

After discussing the post-crisis opportunities for greater sustainability, Interpret Europe launched the international initiative, Recreating tourism through heritage interpretation. Here is what you can expect from involvement:

• Our interpretive trainers will equip your stakeholder community with excellent interpretive practical tools and methods
• Together you will cooperate in the creative process
• You will devise programmes and services for fostering ‘sustainability mindfulness’ among locals and visitors through meaningful and participatory activities
• Interpret Europe will promote your successful story across Europe

If this sounds good to you, check the web page for more information and submit an application form by 31 December at tourism@interpret-europe.net.

If you don’t work in tourism directly, please share within your networks and spread the word – together, let’s help recreate a more sustainable future for tourism.

The initiative is supported by Europa Nostra, EUROPARC, Green Destinations and European Cultural Heritage Network.

Max Dubravko Fijačko is a member of IE’s Tourism Team, is the Gastronomic Heritage Coordinator and an IE Certified Interpretive Trainer. You can get in touch with him at: dubravko.fijacko@interpreteurope.net.

To cite this article: Fijačko, Dubravko Max (2021) ‘IE Tourism initiative – Last call to jump on train’ in Interpret Europe Newsletter 4-2021, pg. 39

Available online: https://interpret-europe.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Newsletter-Winter-2021.pdf

We believe the solution lies in mindful people striving for meaningful experiences in a responsible way. Could heritage interpretation offer solutions for you?

 Let’s discuss it!

 In this free, online event, we’ll exchange practical experiences on recreating tourism through heritage interpretation.
Join us and see whether your community could benefit from taking part in the IE tourism initiative.

What’s in for you?

• Hear examples of existing good practice.
• Learn everything about the IE tourism initiative.
• Get answers on questions like ‘Who is it for?’, ‘How could our community/organisation join?’, ‘What will we gain thought it?’
• Talk with IE trainers, certified members and tourism destination managers.

Find more about the programme here.

During our conference, ‘Recreating tourism through heritage interpretation’, we will consider questions such as:

• Why is heritage interpretation a suitable tool to recreate tourism after the crisis?
• Can heritage interpretation empower communities and make them more resilient?
• Can heritage interpretation also lead to more sustainable tourism?
• How can heritage interpretation help to foster human values as defined by UNESCO?
• How can heritage interpretation make tourists and local people more mindful towards our common future?

We are looking forward to your presentations and of course the chat and debates we will surely enjoy together. To help steer some of these, we are pleased to welcome the following two keynote speakers to our virtual stage: Ben Lynam and Gianna Moscardo.

Ben Lynam is Head of Strategic Communications at the Travel Foundation, a sustainable tourism charity based in the UK, which works with businesses and destinations across the globe to improve tourism’s impacts. He has been at the Travel Foundation for nearly nine years and has been involved in projects such as developing the influential ‘Destinations at Risk: The Invisible Burden of Tourism’ report in 2019, and setting up the Future of Tourism Coalition in 2020.

A synopsis of Ben’s keynote:

As international tourism returns, the focus is increasingly on developing authentic, local experiences that create true value for communities. But what does that look like in practice? The Travel Foundation has been working with companies and destination authorities to clarify what terms like ‘authentic’ and ‘local’ actually mean for the visitor economy, and what ‘value’ means for residents, and how to achieve this in the context of ‘building back better’. Ben will also introduce the concept of the ‘invisible burden’ of tourism, and relate this to both tangible and intangible culture and heritage assets, and outline the opportunities this brings for innovative businesses and destinations.

Gianna Moscardo is a Professor in the College of Business Law and Governance at James Cook University, teaching in tourism futures and destination management.  Her research interests include sustainable regional tourism development, destination community wellbeing, visitor experience design and effective guest communication, mostly through interpretation.  Her most recent work has been on using stories for tourist experience design and for improving tourism sustainability.  Gianna is the current Chair of the Building Excellence in Sustainable Tourism Education Network (BEST EN), an international organisation committed to the creation and dissemination of knowledge to support the sustainable tourism education, research and practice.

Gianna will talk about: Interpretation stories for tourism sustainability

Stories are an essential part of being human. The stories we tell ourselves and others, the stories we live and the stories we are told are critical to how we learn about, understand and act in the world.  Until recently, the stories that tourism researchers and practitioners have told themselves about who they are and what they do have focused on how to make tourism work for international tourists and larger tourism businesses. In these tourism stories interpreters, at best, offer a supporting service. The stories that interpreters have told themselves about what they do have focused on preserving and making heritage live.  In these interpreter stories tourists, at best, are a welcome market that can support interpretive goals.  But sustainability pressures, before, during and beyond Covid-19, mean we need new stories about what tourism and interpretation could be and we need to engage tourists and residents alike in more sustainability stories. This presentation will argue no-one is better placed to tell sustainability stories than interpreters. It will provide some ideas to make interpretation a critical component in tourism that makes positive contributions to both destination wellbeing and the world as a whole.

Have you booked your seat yet? Take advantage of the early bird booking discount until 15 August.

https://www.interpreteuropeconference.net/registration/

Max Dubravko Fijačko is Conference Manager for this year’s IE web conference #iecon21 (1-4 October). You can get in touch with him at: dubravko.fijacko@interpret-europe.net.

To cite this article: Fijačko, Max Dubravko (2021) ‘Conference keynotes’ in Interpret Europe Newsletter 2-2021, 35.

Available online: https://interpret-europe.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Newsletter-Summer-2021.pdf

It was the closing conference of the CHRISTA Project (Culture and Heritage for Responsible, Innovative and Sustainable Tourism Actions) and the main outputs were channelled in the form of action plans within nine regions across Europe. The implementation and monitoring of improved policy, dissemitation tools for policy learning and capacity building is a contribution to the EU policies and EU2020 targets. The expected changes in destination regions, as well as advances in relevant policy implementation and the upgrading of cultural and natural assests, were set out during the first day of the dissemination event. 

During the opening session, Anne Grady, Principal Officer European Commission Directorate General Education and Culture, delivered a keynote address and pointed out the need for an inclusive Europe through cultural heritage, participation and access for all, and the concept of Sustainable Cultural Tourism. Thus in the words of CHRISTA Project Coordinator, Manos Vougioukas: ‘Although being about cultural heritage, half of the key findings have a direct or indirect  reference to cultural tourism. That means that cultural heritage counts for tourism and thus we should bear this in mind in practice’.

After that, four stakeholders from different countries presented the main results of the CHRISTA Project under the ‘4 I’ themes: Intangible heritage; Industrial heritage; heritage Interpretation; and Innovation and digitisation. This was followed by a policy makers’ panel discussion and then the first day ended with a conference dinner and the award ceremony for ‘Destination of Sustaianble Cultural Tourism 2019 ECTN’ in partnership with Europa Nostra, European Travel Commission and NECSTouR, supported by Iter Vitis Cultural Route of the Council of Europe. 

The following day, I moderated the parallel session focused on heritage interpretation. 
Granada County shared the policy implementation and all milestones reached – an example of how the CHRISTA Project can be a useful network with practical tools to change local policy and develop rural communities through adding value to heritage. Eriberto Eulisse from Italy talked about the Water Museum of Venice and how to educate and engage larger audiences creating emotional bonds using heritage interpretation. ‘Read a Poem not a Post’ was the motto of the innovative approach to young community engagement from Burgas, Bulgaria – another way of making heritage interpretation in a city, growing awareness amongst young people. Last, but not least, Andreas Bonde from the University College Absalon in Denmark approached ‘The seven pillars in a good heritage experience’ and how they can inspire more sustainable heritage interpretation development.

Interpret Europe took a turn again during the closing session with a short presentation about our organisation and a demonstration within the venue as a way to further explain and help the audience connect with IE and aid their understanding of heritage interpretation. Attendees found the hidden meaning under a specific object: an earthenware water pitcher very typical from southern Spain. They agreed on the fact that appropiate techniques facilitate connections and visitor interest, and therefore reach excellence in visitor experiences and heritage engagement. I ended up making a call on the need of truly connecting culture, heritage and sustainable tourism, and suggested that we have the know-how on how to include heritage interpretation in our tourism destination strategic plans and training programmes for the tourism and hospitality sector as an indicator of the so called ‘quality in tourism’. 

Nuria Mohedano is IE’s Tourism Coordinator and is based in Puertolllano, Castilla-La Universitet in Denmark. She currently combines teaching in non-formal education tourism related courses and freelance work as a sustainable tourism marketing consultant. She can be contacted at: nuria.mohedano@interpret-europe.net. 

To cite this article:
Mohedano, Nuria (2019) ‘Culture and heritage for responsible, innovative and sustainable tourism actions’. In Interpret Europe Newsletter 4-2019, 7.
Available online: www.interpret-europe.net/fileadmin/Documents/publications/Newsletters/ie-newsletter_2019-4_winter.pdf

So, after about one year of letting my ideas mature and waiting to participate in my first IE conference, I finally decided on my first initiative: to present IE to a network that is very dear to my heart: geoparks. I have been a member of the Azores Geopark since 2012. Every two years we hold the European Geoparks Conference, and the next one was scheduled for this year, in Seville, from 25-27 September. All Portuguese geoparks would be there, as well as most of the European UNESCO Global Geoparks.

Being new to IE, I was inspired by the IE Conference 2019 in Sarajevo, where I saw Janja Sivec, Sandy Colvine and Piotr Idziak deliver a great practical workshop. So after some (good) advice from Helena Vičič, I decided to propose a practical workshop to the Secretariat of the Geoparks Conference, and to put together a team: Darja from Geopark Karavanke/Karawanken, because she is from the ‘geopark family’ as well as being a recently qualified IE Certified Intepretive Guide; Nuria Mohedano, from my ‘IE family’ since we met on our Certified Interpretive Trainer Course, and because she is the IE Tourism Coordinator; and Evarist March, whom I had never met but lives in Spain and had just sent me an email inviting me to participate in a meeting for Iberian Interpret Europe Guides in September.

So, the idea was to deliver a very practical workshop, in a conference where participants are more used to traditional, oral presentations. I wanted to do things differently there, to make a buzz! And there we were, four ‘strangers’, working together. Well, Nuria and I were not actually strangers, but we had not met since the CIT course in May 2018. We prepared all the workshop by e-mail, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. An incredible amount of emails and messages for such a small workshop – I bet that if we were together in a room, we would have reached the same result in three hours! But after a few weeks/months (and some despair), asking for exercises from Janja Sivec (IE Country Coordinator Slovenia) and advice from Valya Stergioti (IE Training Coordinator), we created a workshop with a series of tasters… tapas, as they say in Andaluzia, so very appropriate!

And so, with some practical tapas prepared by each of us, we spent two hours introducing what interpretation (and Interpret Europe) can bring to geoheritage and geoparks. And it even included volcanic cookies and chocolate tasting! Let us see now if our workshop recipes left a good taste in the geoparks’ mouths, and hope we have started a fruitful relationship between these two European Networks – geoparks and IE! 

With multiple sessions simultaneously, and a scheduled start at 8h30 in the morning, more than 30 people joined our workshop (what a great turn out, I sighed with relief!). Many of them wanted to take our cards and thanked us at the end. Mission well acomplished, we felt.

And now, while I think about this some more, I am very happy with the way things came together: I was able to present myself to my Portuguese Geoparks friends as being part of IE – not just to them, but to the whole European Geopark Network – and not alone as the Portugal Country Coordinator, but as part of an IE group, as my new family. 
I think there is a saying that ‘Latins love big families’, or did I make this up? Anyway, I love big families, and I hope to help bring many geopark members to the IE family – and IE members to the geopark family! My families are growing side by side.

And I also hope to see more IE members at the 16th European Geoparks Conference, which will be held on 22-24 September 2021 in Sesia Val Grande UNESCO Global Geopark, where stone becomes culture! 

You can find the abstract of our workshop, A taster of interpretive skills for geoparks, in the Abstracts Conference Book (page 178): http://egnsierranorte2019.com/docs/15th_European_Geoparks_Conference_Abstracts%20Book.pdf

Carla Silva is IE’s Country Coordinator Portugal. She is based in Pico Island, Azores Archipelago, Portugal. She is a biology and geology teacher working for the Azores Regional Government, in the Services of Nature Conservation and Environmental Awareness, where she collaborates on educational programmes for students, municipalities and tourism companies, among other projects. She can be contacted at: carla.silva@interpret-europe.net or carla.sg.silva@azores.gov.pt.

The conference included thematic sessions, workshops, exhibits and study visits. As for the thematic sessions, they were divided according to their main theme: Aspiring geoparks; Education and communication in geoparks; Geohazards and climate change; Sustainable development and geotourism; and Geological heritage and research in geoparks. During the last day, four workshops took place and Interpret Europe actively participated with the workshop, A taster of interpretive skills for geoparks. IE was represented by Carla Silva, Country Coordinator Portugal, Nuria Mohedano, IE Tourism Coordinator, Darja Komar, Certified Interpretive Guide and Evarist March, Certified Interpretive Trainer. 

The workshop offered space for inspiration, knowledge sharing and skill development through taster activities focused on IE’s approach to heritage interpretation, and showed how such skills can be used on real phenomena. 

Along with explaining the basic principles of heritage interpretation, the workshop discussed questions such as how to engage people at geological sites, how to provide first-hand experiences and how the tools of interpretation can improve the quality of communication and positively influence the work of geoparks on education, conservation and tourism development. 

Evarist March opened the workshop, showing geo-interpretation skills in action during an interpretive walk around the venue. A fresh and dynamic practical exercise in which participants connected with different rocks in different parts of the building, and curiosity was awakened. After that, Nuria Mohedano offered space for ‘deeper meanings’ through a piece of ethnography related to geology: a jar to drink water from a ferrouginous volcanic fountain in Puertollano, her hometown. This was a reminder of the need to make geopark visitors think about the meaning behind heritage and facilitate a meaningful exchange for them. Carla Silva delivered the game, Guess the heritage, to show how words and written texts can make a difference in connecting visitors to objects or places; it was important to show that intepretation is not only for guides, but also for panels and exhibitions. Darja Komar developed a practical exercise to explain the Rocks Cycle in a dynamic way, where the participants who volunteered to represent the rocks and processes will never forget how this cycle works. 

An open discussion with all participants was the final part of the workshop about how to apply heritage interpretation to their current jobs or professions related to geoparks. Some of the ideas exchanged showed that people made a connection with what really matters during the practical exercises and agreed on the fact that geoparks need more heritage interpretation within deeper frames and values in order to reach the pursued objectives of UNESCO Global Geoparks. 

Exploring, developing and celebrating the links between geological heritage and all other related aspects of such natural, cultural and intangible heritages, while reconnecting them with human society, will only be possible if heritage interpretation is a key part of geopark management.  

Nuria Mohedano is IE’s Tourism Coordinator. She is based in Puertolllano, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain and specialises in Sustainble Tourism Management at Syddansk Universitet in Denmark. She currently combines teaching in non-formal education tourism related courses and freelance work as a sustainable tourism marketing consultant. She can be contacted at: nuria.mohedano@interpret-europe.net. 

Carla Silva is IE’s Country Coordinator Portugal. She is based in Pico Island, Azores Archipelago, Portugal. She is a biology and geology teacher working for the Azores Regional Government, in the Services of Nature Conservation and Environmental Awareness, where she collaborates on educational programmes for students, municipalities and tourism companies, among other projects. She can be contacted at: carla.silva@interpret-europe.net or carla.sg.silva@azores.gov.pt.