Interpret Europe’s conference on ‘Heroes, Anti-heroes and Villains’ was brilliant, inspiring, and a rare opportunity to dive into an issue where conservation often ‘shoots itself in the foot’ – narrative framing – with people that understand it so well, and from different perspectives.

I shared the Flight of the Swans film about my record-breaking expedition flying the migration route of Bewick’s swans from Arctic Russia back to the UK, which I undertook to engage people along the flyway with the conservation issues facing the species. In a Q&A session after the screening, we discussed how I learnt the hard way how different stories landed with different audiences, as I landed with each of them from out of the sky, or via national and international media. I shared how I learnt that anyone at the outset seen as ‘villains’ in a conservation problem – whether hunters, power companies, or landowners – often are the ones that truly hold the keys to the solution. You can achieve change much faster if you can frame stories so those villains see themselves instead as the potential heroes.

The conversations extending afterwards (and in to the bar) were lively, refreshingly practical, challenging and inspiring. We discussed the power of people and the stories we tell to build bridges and drive collaboration across borders when our politicians are building walls. 

I came away with plans for future collaborations on film tours, talks, a potential route to funding our ‘Finding your Wings’ education programme and a lot of food for thought. Thank you for having me at #iecon25 – I’m looking forward to bringing life to all of those ideas.

As mentioned after the film showing, I am very interested in discussing opportunities for film screenings and/or speaking tours and would love to speak to anyone that might be interested in setting up a tour or screening in your countries. I can appear live in person or online for a Q&A session to complement the film screening and spark debate amongst your groups.

Here is a link to the film trailer: https://youtu.be/9YLcTq53CUg?si=Jpvt8PI7hXSZ7Nwd

And a preview version of the full film:https://conservation-without-borders.notion.site/Flight-of-The-Swans-Documentary-84ffc156f28c4f459b1b732c9fd52950?pvs=4

Sacha Dench is the CEO of Conservation Without Borders (www.conservation-without-borders.org), a wildlife conservation charity that she set up in 2019 to deliver story-focussed action to protect migratory species. Following the Flight of the Swans expedition in 2016 Sacha became known as The Human Swan and she was the Ambassador for the UN’s Convention on Migratory Species 2019-2024. Sacha can be contacted at: sacha@conservation-without-borders.org.

To cite this article: Dench, Sacha (2025) ‘The Human Swan landed in Poland‘ in Interpret Europe Newsletter 1-2025, pg. 8.
Available online: PDF Newsletter Spring 2025 

We are surrounded by examples of public history. If public history is sometimes built on old practices, it is also a sign of its time; it reflects a context of change in the way we preserve, research, interpret, study, communicate, use and consume the past. In doing so, public history very much connects with cultural heritage and heritage interpretation. Democratising the history-making process also relates to increased public participation.

Symbolised by citizen science and crowdsourcing projects, public participation has deeply
impacted public history. Public interaction and user-generated content are some of the most exciting developments in the field, and they question issues such as co-creation, co-production, shared authority, or who owns the past.

If some of the practices – curating, collection and heritage management, oral history, or historic
preservation – have been around for a long time, the field of public history started to develop in the 1970s in North America where the terms were first coined. The National Council on Public History – the main association of public history in the USA – now lists more than 200 university training programmes (https://ncph.org/program-guide/) in North America. Public history has, since the 1990s, also developed in other parts of the world.

Created in 2011, the International Federation for Public History (IFPH) aims to connect people, projects, and discussions all over the world. The IFPH has organised conferences in Europe, Latin America, and Asia since 2014 and has encouraged the creation of projects, university programmes and even national associations. National associations of public history have been created in Brazil (Rede Brasileira de Historia Pública http://historiapublica.com.br), in Italy (Associazone Italiana di Public History, AIPH https://aiph.hypotheses.org), and more recently in Japan (The Public History Study Group パブリックヒストリー研究会 https://public-history9.webnode.jp), attesting the development of the field. To accompany the spread of public history, the IFPH created International Public History, a peer-reviewed, online, and multilingual journal. These international networks attest of the need to discuss and redefine the role of history and historians in contemporary societies. 

To find out more, visit our website (https://ifph.hypotheses.org/) or participate in our Facebook forum (https://www.facebook.com/groups/ifphgroup/).
Contact us for further details at: pubhisint@gmail.com.

Thomas Cauvin is President of the International Federation for Public History. Born in France,
he is Assistant Professor of History at Colorado State University. You can get in touch with him at: Thomas.cauvin@eui.eu. 

To cite this article:
Cauvin, Thomas (2019) ‘Making history more public – Making public history’. In Interpret Europe Newsletter 4-2019, 24.
Available online: www.interpret-europe.net/fileadmin/Documents/publications/Newsletters/ie-newsletter_2019-4_winter.pdf

Museum professionals will conduct research analysis of museum spaces in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The results will be available on the project’s website.

Inga Karaia, Director of the Georgian Museum Association (GMA), underlines the importance of the project, which is the first precedent of establishment of a long-term international training programme for museumers in the South Caucasus region. She hopes that, ‘BE MUSEUMER will become an interesting and useful platform for young museum professionals from all three countries and that it will strengthen the idea of founding the International Museum Study Centre at Tbilisi State Academy of Art.’

Julia Pagel, NEMO’s Secretary General, hopes that BE MUSEUMER will help in creating ‘advanced, inclusive, and diverse museum work environment in the whole South Caucasus region as well as a stronger connection between museums in Europe and Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.’

For further information on the project can be found here: www.georgianmuseums.ge

Upcoming calls for the training and webinars will be announced on:
www.georgianmuseums.ge
www.ne-mo.org
www.academievoorcultuurmanagement.nl

This article was produced by Marie Banks, IE News Coordinator, from a NEMO Press Release.
NEMO (www.ne-mo.org) can be contacted: office@ne-mo.org

To cite this article:
NEMO – Network of European Museum Organisations (2019) ‘BE MUSEUMER’. In Interpret Europe Newsletter 1-2019, 25.
Available online:
www.interpret-europe.net/fileadmin/Documents/publications/Newsletters/ie-newsletter_2019-1_spring.pdf

After half a century of communist dictatorship, and the initial turmoil of the post-communist years, the recent years have seen Albania’s tourism industry experience impressive growth. Among the main factors contributing to this phenomenon, have been foreign investments, the know-how gained by various businesses through the years, as well as a shared belief that tourism can become the new most powerful engine of the Albanian economy.

IntoAlbania Project (www.intoalbania.com)
When it comes to foreign investments, a significant amount of funding has been given by main foreign donors to NGOs to finance projects related to tourism. One such project is IntoAlbania, financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Embassy of Sweden. Its mission is to support tourism development by implementing digital technologies and an authentic tourism model to connect tourists with the best of Albania’s culture, heritage, nature and authenticity while contributing to the development of local economies.

An important part of the project was the development of a modern online platform that could keep tourists updated with all relevant information about Albanian tourist destinations, its cities, museums, natural parks, bars, restaurants and more. Since its launch in 2018, it has become the leading tourism website in Albania, thanks to its up-to-date content, high-quality pictures, articles from local and foreign contributors and other important functions, such as e-commerce, digital maps and booking options. The platform also keeps track of all new and interesting events happening all over Albania.

Readers can make use of all the functions also through an IntoAlbania mobile application. The app is a modern and practical on-the-go solution for the Albanian tourism market.

Another important important goal of the project was the creation of a digital infrastructure for Albanian museums. Unfortunately, the majority of Albanian museums were designed in the late 1940s, just after the end of World War II, and the technology they employ hasn’t been updated since then. The first intervention by IntoAlbania was made at the prominent National Iconographic Museum, ‘Onufri’, located at the UNESCO World Heritage city of Berat. This intervention had a focus on the implementation of a multi-language audio-guide digital infrastructure to be used by the museum’s visitors. Thanks to the intervention, it is now possible to use an audio guide in four different languages: Albanian, English, Italian and German.

The implementation of the audio guide system can make it easier for tourists to get in touch with the rich story of this place. The audio content of the guide for Onufri Museum makes it possible to hear through well-studied text, music and other sound effects, the story behind the museum and its unique icons. Orpheus, a global company of digitalisation consultants, led the content creation for the text, music and sound effects.

Why Onufri?
There were many reasons why the Onufri Museum was selected as the pilot location for this intervention. The museum bears the name of the 16th century Albanian master painter, called Onufri, who left a rich legacy of iconography in the country. The museum, located inside the Cathedral of the Assumption of St. Mary, contains an immense collection of 1,500 objects collected from Albanian churches and monasteries, from which 173 carefully-selected artefacts are displayed for public viewing.

The iconostasis, created in 1807, the most astonishing part of the interior of the church, is considered one of the greatest accomplishments of the 19th century Albanian woodcarving masters.
While many churches, mosques and other religious objects have been destroyed since Albania was proclaimed an atheist state by the Communist regime, ironically this church managed to survive through a government decision to create a museum inside it. Thankfully, the beauty of the church and its iconostasis, is something that Albanian and foreign tourists can still experience.

From the seven ‘purple codices’ of the world which survive today, two were found exactly under the apse of the church. The two old Gospels have been named ‘Beratinus 1’ from the 6th century and ‘Beratinus 2’ from the 9th century, and according to the UNESCO official site ‘represent one of the most valuable treasures of the Albanian cultural heritage’. For this reason, they were included in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 2005.

In the future, the implementation of new technologies will continue in other national museums, featuring various innovative solutions, such as 3D, touchscreens, immersive digital experiences, immersive multimedia installations, etc. so come to Albania and see for yourselves – I promise it is getting more and more accessible!

Inesa Sulaj is a Cultural Heritage Expert and has a particular interest in museology. She is currently working at Creative Business Solutions Organization, for the IntoAlbania Project. She can be contacted at: inesa.sulaj@cbs.al.

To cite this article:
Sulay, Inesa (2019) ‘IntoAlbania: A new perspective on Albania’. In Interpret Europe Newsletter 1-2019, 22.
Available online:
www.interpret-europe.net/fileadmin/Documents/publications/Newsletters/ie-newsletter_2019-1_spring.pdf

It’s a hot summer’s day, but Arben and Milica don’t notice. They’re examining the wall in front of them – a structure made of ancient stones, shaped and placed skilfully by a craftsman long ago. As they focus on the wall and on the problem of restoring it, the fact that Arben is Albanian and Milica is Serbian hardly crosses their minds. From this moment on, they are colleagues in protecting and preserving heritage.

This is a fictional account of a scene that has played out in reality hundreds of times at the Regional Restoration Camps. Cultural Heritage without Borders started the camps in 2007 as a means of building ties among the countries of the Western Balkans and providing students and young professionals with practical experience in heritage conservation. Now in their ninth year, the camps have grown from hosting a few students in Gjirokastra, Albania, to training a total of 652 participants from 26 countries at 6 locations across the Western Balkans. The intensive two-week program of the camps involves morning lectures on topics related to heritage conservation, interpretation, management and the like, along with hands-on work on a restoration/conservation project in the afternoon.

At CHwB, we have come to realise that heritage conservation efforts must be accompanied by interpretation. Interpretation is crucial for helping people to discover the value of heritage and encouraging them to play a role in preserving it. Therefore, as the camps developed, interpretation slowly began to take on a larger and larger role. Under the guidance of Dr. Diana Walters, the interpretation component of the camps grew from a single lecture into a daylong workshop. During these workshop days, participants take a break from their other activities to practice interpreting their site for various audiences.

The feedback from participants was encouraging. They approached the interpretation workshop days energetically and produced some very creative interpretive solutions for the places where they were working. By the end of the activity, many of the participants wanted to dig deeper. We answered this need by holding the first Regional Restoration Camp focused entirely on heritage interpretation, which took place last autumn in Prizren, Kosovo. During this camp, participants were guided through the process of developing interpretive trails for the historic city of Prizren. As is the case with the conservation-related camps, the results of the Interpretation camp in Prizren are being used to support a real project, which will result in an interpretive trail for Prizren Fortress.

This year, CHwB is organising seven Regional Restoration Camps – a record number. These camps will focus on themes of building conservation, museum artefact conservation, historical arts and crafts, heritage management and, of course, interpretation.  Every camp will contain an interpretation component, but the upcoming camp in Shkodra, Albania, to be held July 9-20, will focus entirely on the twin themes of heritage interpretation and management. Through these activities, we are highlighting interpretation as a critical component of overall heritage management and preservation efforts. Interpretation is how we make heritage relevant for people; it is how we reach our goal of both restoring heritage and building relations.

Jonathan Eaton works for Cultural Heritage without Borders-Albania (CHwB), based in Tirana (chwb.org/albania). Currently, he is involved with projects involving heritage interpretation, historical dialogue and the development of a regional museum network. You can contact him at jonathan.eaton@chwb.org. To learn more about the CHwB Regional Restoration Camps, visit chwb.org/albania/rrc or email rrc@chwb.org.

To cite this article:
Eaton, J. (2016) ‘How interpretation restores relations’. In Interpret Europe Newsletter 1-2016, 11-12

Available online:
http://www.interpret-europe.net/fileadmin/Documents/publications/Newsletters/ie-newsletter_2016-1_spring.pdf