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IE Webinar: Heritage interpretation across cultures
January 20, 202227 January at 18:00 CET Interpretation is a communication medium that should promote intercultural understanding, respect, and recognition of cultural differences. Learning facts about the differences is not enough and to develop intercultural interpretive /communication skills, we must start from ourselves: we must become aware of core cultural concepts ...Read More
IE Tourism initiative – Last call to jump on train
December 20, 2021If you participate in the development of your tourist destination, check this out. You might like to join our international initiative. 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 ...Read More
Interactive EU funding guide
December 20, 2021Are you looking for funding for a project? This new guide – which combines all EU funding sources – might make your search a little easier. The European Commission has developed a new online guide to ease access to the funding opportunities available for the cultural and creative sectors across all the ...Read More
The role of interpretation in the sustainable management of tourism sites
December 20, 2021Call for abstracts for submission to a special issue of the Journal of Interpretation Research on this relevant topic. Having met a lot of you during Interpret Europe’s web conference earlier this year, I’m delighted to inform you that the upcoming special issue of the Journal of Interpretation ...Read More
Butterfly ready to fly
December 20, 2021A sculpture that says more about the regeneration of a city than first meets the eye. Karlovac is a city in a park. And do you know how many parks Karlovac has? You might say a lot – every citizen of Karlovac considers every moat a park, and every green area ...Read More
Broken Landscape
December 20, 2021The most impressive monument that commemorates the Croatian War of Independence, where I felt a deeper meaning. I stood there, deeply moved by the devastating beauty of the monument and landscape. I looked at Hrvatska Kostajnica, etched in the greenery of the Banovina Pounje, through a huge lens, through the ...Read More
European Heritage Awards 2022
December 20, 2021The European Heritage Awards are open for submissions – but only until 1 February 2022 so hurry to get your project recognised! This year marks the 20th anniversary of Europe’s most prestigious Awards in the heritage field. Europe’s most inspiring architects, craftsmen, cultural heritage experts, professionals, volunteers, public ...Read More
Discover Your Faro Way
December 20, 2021A role-playing game to promote the Council of Europe’s Faro Convention. The game seeks to promote the Faro Convention and the value of cultural heritage for society in innovative ways whilst actively engaging different stakeholders in its implementation. With the aim of fostering a better understanding of the ...Read More
UNESCO: Heritage and Our Sustainable Future series
December 20, 2021Several of the reports from this online conference link well to the importance and impact of heritage interpretation. UNESCO is working in partnership with PRAXIS at the University of Leeds, UK and with support from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to deliver a series of brief reports honing ...Read More
The echo of Mountain Day
December 20, 2021This holiday in Albania (which is almost three-quarters mountainous) has not taken place since covid, but we look forward to the future again. The celebration of Dajti Mountain Day, for the residents of Tirana, has started to be a beautiful ceremony that seeks to remove people from the noise ...Read More
First Croatian national forum of heritage interpretation
December 20, 2021An in-person event: 120 people spending three days immersed in heritage interpretation in 2021. Sounds like a dream, and it felt like one, too. In October, an in-person event gathered around 120 participants, mostly heritage interpretation professionals, and took them on an interpretive journey through Terra Magica. That ...Read More
Movable Carpet Project
December 18, 2021An Albanian playground game based on mosaics inspired a project developed by MuZEH Lab. The Center for Development of Museums, Heritage and Culture – MuZEH Lab is a centre opened for the community in April 2021 based in Durrës city, Albania. The centre was founded with the mission of creating a ...Read More
Tales of nature and the medieval past
December 17, 2021Visitor Centre Medvedgrad, on the slopes of mount Medvednica overlooking Zagreb, provides new immersive heritage experience for all. The old fortified medieval town of Medvedgrad has recently been transformed into a visitor and tourist hub for the Nature Park Medvednica. Opened in October 2021, it is the result of many ...Read More
Health funding to gamify a heritage project
December 17, 2021How a 1970s early gamification model was used to create a wildlife recording booklet to encourage citizen science using healthcare funding. As a child growing up in England in the ‘70s, the series of books that really got me engaged in the world around me (and particularly my interest in ...Read More
Invisible to the eye
December 17, 2021Can interpretation help inclusivity? A project in Bakar puts theory into practice with the help of an unusual historical personality. “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly…” We often refer to the famous Little Prince line by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, when trying to understand ...Read More
Bog haiku – Interpreting peatland science through Japanese poetry
December 17, 2021This ancient form of Japanese poetry lent itself to interpreting the science of bog restoration and carbon capture on Twitter. In the run-up to COP26 in November, social media was aflame with hockey-stick diagrams and best-fit-worst-scenario graphs of probability, many of them only understood by ...Read More
Have you ever heard grass grow?
December 15, 2021Sometimes I feel I can hear grass grow, simply by discovering a deep connection between nature and our folk tradition. In Slovenia, we use this phrase – that you can hear grass grow – when you are a bit ecstatic or lose your mind a bit (usually during puberty or in love ...Read More
Don’t hold your breath! – Interpreting land uplift bounce back with your own tummy
December 15, 2021The High Coast Kvarken Archipelago WHS has a new interpretive plan, and an interactive trail to engage families with the geology and history. After many years, the High Coast Kvarken Archipelago World Heritage Site finally has an interpretive plan. It is a challenge to interpret a site of three separate ...Read More
CIT in Krakow
December 15, 2021Four unforgettable IE days were spent in Krakow, Poland, when IE’s Certified Interpretive Trainer (CIT) course took place. The four days of the recent Certified Interpretive Trainer (CIT) course and trainer’s upgrade courses for Certified Interpretive Guide (CIG) and Certified Interpretive Writer (CIW), will last in the memory ...Read More
Words that are worth reading
December 15, 2021Croatia’s first CIW course enriched my knowledge and made me see that writing is the most challenging skill to master as a heritage interpreter. Writing to inspire and connect with the reader is a continuous process of capturing the essence of cultural and natural heritage. As our trainer, Sandy ...Read More
Magical cauldron of Savičenta
December 15, 2021If only we could take the recipe of Savičenta’s development and transfer it to any other destination. I recently came back from delivering an IE Certified Interpretive Guide (CIG) course in the Istrian town of Svetvinčenat or Savičenta (don’t ask how can it have two names, long story ...Read More
Creating meaningful experiences with one of Norway’s most elusive arctic animals
December 14, 2021After IE’s Certified Interpretive Guide (CIG) course, I never go to work without my interpretation toolbox. In September 2021, I found myself surrounded by a spectacular vertical landscape of narrow fjords and towering mountains in Aurland, on the west coast of Norway. A contrast to my place of work ...Read More
Hot topic – Heritage interpretation for climate cooling
December 14, 2021Members were invited to think about how heritage interpretation could form a response to the global climate discussions at COP26 in Glasgow. During and post COP26, held in Glasgow in November, Interpret Europe members have been using our online platforms to discuss and share how heritage interpretation could be a ...Read More
Interpretive planning for World Heritage
December 14, 2021Interpret Europe delivered a special training course on interpretive planning for UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites in Kotor, Montenegro. Following an invitation from UNESCO, I took part in the WH-Interp training course on interpretative planning on World Heritage properties. One part of it was organised as a face-to ...Read More
IE webinar: Interpreting climate change — or anything — requires that interpreters understand people´s worldviews
December 2, 20219 December 2021, 18:00 CET Climate change may prove the ultimate challenge for interpreters. It may be one part technology and two parts beliefs and perceptions, squarely within the communication realm of heritage interpretation. Yet climate change stretches its tentacles, not just in our physical, scientifically measurable world, but ...Read More
IE Webinar: Interpreter and phenomenon – who is who?
November 12, 202125 November 2021, 18:00 CET The webinar will focus on what is going on between the interpreter and the phenomenon – Joanna Hajduk will share some methods she uses during workshops to enrich this relationship. How do we interact with the object using our personal experiences, just us as a ...Read More
IE Webinar: Nature Interpretation in the North – Challenges and opportunities
October 19, 202126 October 2021, 18:00 CEST In 2008, a University centre with an assignment to support the national environmental protection agency and develop nature interpretation in Sweden was established. Eva Sandberg shares what is happening within the field in Sweden and what the Swedish Centre for Nature Interpretation is working ...Read More
Voices of Culture – Call for applications
October 14, 2021A call for applications is open on the topic: (Re)-Engaging Digital Audiences in the Cultural Sectors – Improving Audience Data. With the advent of digital technology, developing digital audiences has become a new challenge for the cultural and creative sectors (CCS). More complex than just increasing the number of cyber ...Read More
Museums have the power to make the world a better place!
October 14, 2021ICOM 2021 International Symposium paved the way for Prague 2022, the 26th ICOM General Conference and the main topic: The Power of Museums. Part of the preparations for the International Council of Museums (ICOM) General Conference is the International Symposium that takes place a year before the conference itself and ...Read More
Being a visitor in covid times
October 14, 2021Seeking somewhere quiet and something new for our family to explore, enjoying local culture and heritage to bring back some normality this summer. I spent a wonderful summer with my family. We – my husband and I with our two girls – live in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. I love my ...Read More
Finding the fish in the Cadger’s Pad
October 13, 2021Documenting Irish place names and re-discovering ancient practices through storytelling to uncover a sense of place. On a sunny Saturday in June 2021, over 100 people gathered to climb an ancient pathway in the Cooley Mountains of County Louth, Ireland, as part of an event organised by Carlingford Lough ...Read More
Landscape is simply a matter of interpretation
October 13, 2021‘Beauty in the eye of the beholder‘ being re-phrased as ‘Landscape in the eye of the beholder‘ could be one way to think about it. The term ‘landscape’ denotes a section of space (or spatial unit) shaped by some kind of coherence, some unifying force. As a matter of ...Read More
Thinking out of the box
October 13, 2021It may be a cliché but it can be an important step in learning how to change your writing from listing only facts to making meaningful reading. In June 2021 I participated an Interpret Europe Certified Interpretive Writer (CIW) course at The Celje Regional Museum in Slovenia. It was definitely ...Read More
An eye-opening first-ever Interpret Europe course in Turkey
October 13, 2021August saw Turkey’s first CIG course in the town of Urla (ancient Klazomenia), near the city of Izmır (historical Smyrna), the hometown of Homer. Almost all participants were licensed tour guides or environmental activists who had already studied protection and heritage. In a nutshell, we could talk about any ...Read More
Development of heritage interpretation skills within the V4 countries
October 13, 2021With support from the International Visegrad Fund, the second edition of the Interpret Visegrad initiative is running in 2021-2022. As a result of the Interpret Visegrad initiative, a continued cooperation between IE member institutions and individuals working in the field of cultural and natural heritage management and heritage interpretation ...Read More
iecon online
October 13, 2021For the second year, IE’s annual conference brought people together virtually – this time to discuss recreating tourism through HI. We were very sad not to be able to come together in person in Spain as planned for #iecon21, but conference manager Max Dubravko Fijacko and the team worked so ...Read More
Have you ever played catch with a hyperobject?
October 13, 2021Interpreting climate change means understanding people’s worldviews – and maybe even starting by expanding our own. Have you ever played catch with a hyperobject? It is like playing chess on a pitch-black night or reading a book whose pages randomly reorder like the walls in Maze Runner. Yet interpreters ...Read More
IE tourism initiative: Recreating tourism through heritage interpretation ‘Open doors’
September 21, 2021If your destination, like many others, has been hit by the pandemic, you are probably looking for ways to recover and thinking about how to recreate tourism to make it more resilient in future. We believe the solution lies in mindful people striving for meaningful experiences in a responsible way ...Read More
Dead men do tell tales: interpreting difficult heritage
September 18, 202122 September 2021, 18:00 CEST Difficult heritage is a type of cultural heritage that reflects a strong social preoccupation with the past. It includes human remains, graves, concentration camps, memorials, monuments, and other elements of individual and community heritage whose main features reflect pain, fear, shame and loss. It ...Read More
Interpretation and gamification can go hand in hand
August 22, 202126 August 2021, 18:00 CEST What do you think of when you say the word ‘game’? Do you associate it with something carefree, fun, and childlike? How about a serious, immersive, mind-bending, mission-oriented experience? When the creative mind of a game designer gets in perfect tune with ...Read More
Heritage Interpretation for families: Why and what’s it all about?
June 16, 2021Do you focus on families with the heritage interpretation you offer? Research in the Flanders region shows that the experiences we gain as a child when we’re out with our family determine what we are interested in later in life. So, if we want future generations to grow up ...Read More
IE Webinar: Seeking the universal in the “outstanding universal value” at World Heritage Sites
May 14, 2021World Heritage Sites represent outstanding universal values. But how should we grasp and interpret their relevance, simply, to a wider audience? What approach should we take to balance the complexities of these sites with comprehensible interpretation that brings the “aha” moment? How can the scientific understanding of the outstanding universal ...Read More
IE Webinar: Interpretation for children – exploring Cornell´s Sharing Nature in relation to IE quality standards
April 17, 2021In this webinar, presenters will compare the IE quality standards with the principles of Flow Learning. Proposing the basis for a new model of developing interpretation for children and youth and implementing it in a new IE training module. One of the principles of Heritage Interpretation written by Freeman Tilden ...Read More
Recreating tourism through heritage interpretation: Call for papers
March 28, 2021When the pandemic comes to an end, there will be a need for new ideas in tourism. What role can heritage interpretation play in this? ‘Recreating tourism through heritage interpretation’ is the title of our next Interpret Europe Conference (#iecon21) that is due to take place 1 – 4 October ...Read More
EU Funding for Culture 2021-2027
March 28, 2021There are 13 EU programmes for culture and the creative sector with funding opportunities to help with covid-recovery. Culture is considered an important pillar of the EU as it significantly contributes to social cohesion, building a common sense of belonging and promoting shared values and cultural diversity. The Treaty ...Read More
Cultural heritage as a catalyst for positive change
March 28, 2021A ‘green paper’ aims to put Europe’s shared heritage at the heart of the European Green Deal and is linked to the New European Bauhaus initiative. The European Cultural Heritage Green Paper (published 22 March 2021) was developed by Europa Nostra, ICOMOS (the International Council on Monuments and Sites ...Read More
Philanthropy for Europe
March 28, 2021The European Cultural Foundation and the Allianz Kulturstiftung for Europe invite you to imagine European philanthropy for a common future. Interpret Europe is represented in the European Commission Expert Group on Cultural Heritage (Cultural Heritage Forum) and the study, Imagine Philanthropy for Europe, was shared with us in January. It ...Read More
Heritage and our sustainable future
March 28, 2021Recordings and reading material from this conference supported by UNESCO, focusing on preserving the past for the future, are available online. Amongst the vast amount of online content available in the past year, the virtual conference, Heritage and our Sustainable Future, hosted by Praxis (University of Leeds) and the UK ...Read More